687 vessels have exported 19 million tons of agricultural products to Africa, Asia, and the European Union from 3 Black Sea ports – Pivdenny, Chornomorsk, and Odesa – over the past 6 months.However, Ukrainian ports are now being forced to work at half of their capacity. The volume of the fleet entering the ports for loading has decreased, and the volume of exports has reduced by 3 million tons per month. The reason is the purposeful sabotage of inspections of ships on the Bosphorus by the Russian side.
117 vessels are waiting to be inspected by the Joint Coordination Center in the Bosphorus. The average waiting time is between 2 to 5 weeks, which also leads to losses for cargo owners. The stable operation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative is essential to ensure international food supply chains and global food security, as cargos with Ukrainian grain are also shipped to the African continent, and countries with high hunger risks, such as Ethiopia, Yemen, Afghanistan, etc.
To ensure the continuous and full-scale operation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative AmCham Ukraine calls on the United Nations to:
- Take measures to ensure stable and timely operation of inspectors/commission representatives operating under the Joint Coordination Center to speed up the movement of vessels with Ukrainian grain and to eliminate the queues;
- Support the extension/prolongation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative for at least one year with automatic prolongation for the same periods unless a party thereto notifies the other of intent to terminate or modify the Black Sea Grain Initiative and provides respective official communication;
- Include the Mykolaiv Seaport and the specialized seaport Olvia into the Black Sea Grain Initiative to provide the opportunity to ensure the exit of vessels that are stranded there since February 2022;
- Expand the catalogue of goods by including metal products and iron ore raw materials for export through the Ukrainian sea ports.
AmCham Ukraine expresses our gratitude to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, the Ministry for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, the Office of the President of Ukraine. We are also grateful to the United Nations and Government of Türkiye, for efforts and support related to the continuous export of Ukrainian grain and oilseeds in the framework of the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
