Ukrainian ports’ cargo turnover reached 74 million tons in January-September

A significant part falls on agricultural products – 46.3 million tons. Another 27.7 million tons – other cargoes, in particular, from the iron and steel sector

In January-September 2024, Ukrainian seaports handled 74 million tons of cargo. This is a significant increase compared to the same period last year, when the volume amounted to 41.1 million tons. This is evidenced by the operational data of the State Enterprise “Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority” (USPA).

A significant portion of it is accounted for by agricultural products – 46.3 million tons. Another 27.7 million tons are other cargoes, in particular, iron and steel.

September 2024 showed an increase in cargo handled to 7 million tons, which is almost twice as much as in September last year, when 3.4 million tons were handled. The agricultural sector remains the leader in exports, with 4.1 mln tons of agricultural products delivered to international markets in September.

In August 2024, Ukrainian seaports handled 1.2 million tons of iron ore, compared to 195 thousand tons in August 2023. In total, 7 million tons of cargo were handled during the month, which is more than double the volume of 3.3 million tons in 2023.

In January-August, seaports increased cargo handling by 77.2% year-on-year – to 66.8 million tons (37.7 million tons in January-August 2023).

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2023, Ukrainian ports increased cargo handling by 5% y/y – to 62 million tons, with iron ore transshipment accounting for 5.9% of the total cargo turnover, 1.9 million tons. This can be considered the beginning of the industry’s recovery after the difficult year of 2022, when port cargo turnover fell by 2.6 times compared to pre-war 2021.