The European Commission will allocate an additional €50 million for the rehabilitation of Ukrainian ports hit by Russian rocket fire. This was announced by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
In a letter to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, she said the rapid restoration of the infrastructure of Ukrainian ports should facilitate further exports of agricultural products to the world market.
The EU and the international community are also helping to build solidarity corridors that transport Ukrainian grain and other agricultural products by road to Baltic Sea ports via the five EU neighbors. Romanian transshipment ports on the Danube are also being deepened as an inland route to the ports near Constantia on the Black Sea.
Ukraine exported 4.6 million tons of grain in October 2023, of which 3.6 million tons were transported by sea, and 1 million tons by rail and road.
Ukraine has independently restored the Black Sea maritime corridor for grain exports, Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna said at a press conference in Vienna. According to her, a special insurance fund has also been organized by Great Britain to guarantee the functioning of this 'grain corridor'.
For several weeks now, transport ships have again been sailing from Ukrainian ports just off the coast of NATO countries Bulgaria and Romania to the south and to the Bosphorus. That new shipping route 'out of Russian reach' could be a lifeline, including for Ukraine's depleted steel industry.
“The maritime corridor is essential for the survival of Ukrainian agriculture,” said Jean-Francois Lepy, head of grain trading at French agribusiness group InVivo. “Without a corridor there will be a serious problem in 2024/2025,” he said on the sidelines of the Global Grain conference in Geneva earlier this month.