Ukrainian seaports are operating at 30-35% of their capacity under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which established a humanitarian maritime corridor to allow ships to export grain and other foodstuffs from Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Seaports Authority (USPA) announced this in a statement, the CFTS portal reports.
“We are currently observing a reduction of the waiting line for entry and exit from 150 to 90 ships. Of course, this indicator of ‘reduction of the waiting line’ is the result of the synergy of businesses and the state, but it cannot meet the needs of ports and terminals, which is about 40 ships per day,” the USPA said in the statement.
According to the statement, the main reason for the formation of the waiting line of ships remains the Russian Federation’s destructive position on the conduct of ship inspections in the Black Sea Grain Initiative’s Joint Coordination Center. Russian representatives continue to systematically and unjustifiably slow down the inspection of vessels and their registration for participation in the grain initiative, the statement said. According to the statement, an average of 5–6 inspections out of the scheduled 10 are performed per day.
For example, according to the statement, all the members of the Joint Coordination Center approved the performance of 303 inspections in March, but only 168 inspections took place.
"All this results in ships idling for a week or even a month in Turkish territorial waters. As a result, the level at which Ukrainian ports are operating has fallen to 30-35% of their capacity, there has been a shortfall of almost 15 million tons in the exports of food cargo, cargo owners and Ukrainian farmers are incurring significant losses, and countries in need are not receiving urgently needed Ukrainian grain on time," the USPA said.
