Ukraine Loses $1.75 Billion in Export Revenues Due to Port Downtime

MOSCOW, August 16. /TASS/. Ukraine has lost some $1.75 billion in export revenues due to downtime at sea ports since July 22, calculations by TASS show.

Odessa, Chernomorsk, and Yuzhny, Ukraine’s three largest commercials ports, have not been used. Data on the schedule of vessel traffic showed that no large foreign merchant ship has entered these port cities over the period.

Meanwhile, traffic via ports of the Danube River, mostly Ukraine’s Izmail, or transit via Moldova to Romania’s Constanta cannot make up for the closure of Odessa ports as cargo handling potential there is smaller, with navigation along the Danube faltering amid a continued heatwave in Europe. As a result, Ukrainian farm exports have dwindled by approximately 60%, or a monthly value of more than $2 billion. Iron ore and metals exports worth around $700 million a month have almost fully stopped: up to 90% of those were routed via Odessa ports.

Vessel tracking data do not cover military cargo supplies to Ukraine’s armed forces. The Russian Defense Ministry has regularly reported striking bulk carriers serving the Ukrainian army.