Dozens of ships cannot reach Ukrainian ports on the Danube – media

Dozens of ships have formed a queue at the Sulina Canal in Romania, waiting to pass through Ukrainian ports to load grain. The delays are already increasing the cost of transportation.

Reuters reports this, citing traders and analysts.

Due to increased Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea, some cargo has been redirected to ports on the Danube. However, their capacity is much lower. The situation is also complicated by a shortage of pilots and priority for other cargoes.

According to the consulting company ASAP Agri, as of August 25, more than 50 vessels were waiting to pass through the Sulyn Canal. At the same time, only five to seven vessels could pass to Ukrainian Danube ports daily.

Each day of downtime costs shipowners up to $8,000, increasing the already high cost of transporting grain.

The situation may worsen due to bad weather, which led to the closure of the Sulyn Canal for two days.

At the same time, Avalon Shipping estimates the queue at approximately 70 vessels. They say that in fact the canal can only allow two or three vessels to Ukrainian ports per day.

As a reminder, in the Black Sea, Russian forces attacked a merchant ship under the flag of Guinea-Bissau , which was transporting Ukrainian wheat. The attack killed one person and injured three others.