About 601,115 tonnes of Ukrainian grain have been sent through the port of Constanta

Ukraine has sent about 601,115 tonnes of grain to the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta since the Russian invasion on February 24, with an additional 120,294 tonnes on the way, port authorities said today.

The grain shipped by barges, trains and trucks to the Romanian port amounts to about 3% of the 20 million tonnes needed to be transported before the new harvest, which starts in late July, to avoid bottlenecks and prevent a global food crisis. crisis.

With Ukraine’s seaports closed after the start of the war more than three months ago, Ukraine, the world’s fourth-largest grain exporter, has been forced to send cargo by train across its western border or through its small ports to Danube river in Romania.

The United Nations is planning to set up a sea corridor for Ukraine to transport grain through its own ports, with the help of Turkey, but there have been major challenges to such an agreement.

In Constanta, more than 262,000 tonnes of Ukrainian grain have already departed by 15 ships, port authorities told Reuters, with more than 339,000 tonnes in silos and an additional 120,294 tonnes scheduled to arrive mainly by barges from the Danube and Reni ports. of Ukraine.

Last year, a record amount of 25.2 million tonnes of grain from Romania and its landlocked neighbors was shipped from the port of Constanta.

In May, the port’s management company, Comvex Viorel Panait, estimated that operators could handle an additional 20% over last year ‘s volume, or about 5 million tonnes.

Comvex, which has handled most of the Ukrainian grain so far, operates the fastest grain terminal in Europe, which can process up to 70,000 tonnes a day.