Danube ports increased cargo transshipment by 2.9 times in 11 months of 2022

In January-November 2022, the Ukrainian ports of the Danube region (Izmail, Reni and Ust-Dunaisk) increased cargo transshipment by 2.9 times compared to the same period last year – up to 14.5 million tons. Press service of Ukrainian administration of Sea Ports (AMPU) reports about it.

The cargo turnover rate of the Izmail port for 11 months of 2022 was 7.7 million tons (+3.1 times y/y), Reni – 6.1 million tons (+6.08 times y/y), Ust-Dunaisk – 662 thousand tons (+14.1 times y/y).

According to the volume of transshipment in 2022, the first position in the cargo nomenclature is occupied by grain. For 11 months, the export of agricultural products from the ports of the Danube region amounted to 6.1 million tons, which exceeds the figure for the same period by 42 times.

“Despite the fact that today the ports of Izmail, Reni, Ust-Dunaisk have used almost all available capacity for transshipment of goods, there is still potential for further development. These are modernization and renewal of port infrastructure, attraction of investments for the construction of new terminals, dredging, etc.,” comments Oleksiy Vostrikov, head of AMPU”.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in recent years, the share of Danube ports in joint transshipment in Ukraine was at the level of 2.5-4.2%. Ministry of Infrastructure is planning to increase the throughput capacity of Ukrainian ports on the Danube by 1.7 times – up to 25 million tons per year. But, even with maximum efforts, the Danube ports will not be able to extract Ukrainian exports – the country’s Black Sea ports must be fully unlocked.

Also, at the end of September 2022, Ukrainian Danube Shipping (UDP) was developing new routes for transporting iron ore on the Middle Danube. After the start of the war, almost the entire fleet of the Danube Shipping Company was relocated to the Lower Danube.

Already in mid-October, the UDP sent the first barge caravan with cargoes of Ukrainian iron and steel from Izmail in the direction of the Serbian port of Smederevo. The caravan included 5 barges with a load of slag ore and pellets.

Since the beginning of the war, UDP has increased the carrying capacity of the fleet by 3 times since the beginning of the war. As part of the fleet repair program, more than 150 fleet units were repaired in 6 months and 35 barges, which had been idle for a long time, were put into operation.