More and more foreign ships are entering the ports of Great Odesa

In the first quarter of 2025, 659 ship calls were made to three ports of the Odesa region.

This was reported by the head of the Monitoring Group of the Institute of Black Sea Strategic Studies, Andrii Klymenko.

According to him, the number of foreign vessels operating in the ports of Greater Odessa in January-March 2025 steadily increased.

“During this period, the Russian armed forces carried out at least 35 attacks with missiles and UAVs of various types on the ports of Great Odesa, the energy and industrial infrastructure of the Odessa region in the area of ​​​​the ports (i.e., on average 1 time in 3 days),” Klymenko noted.

In particular, the number of strike UAVs involved in attacks on ports is not accurately recorded according to open sources, but it is estimated that it can reach from 5 to 20 or more drones during one attack, that is, from 150 to 200 since the beginning of the year.

He also recalled that during the attacks since the beginning of the year, three ships were damaged, fatalities among civilians were recorded, and port infrastructure was damaged.

“All ships were attacked by Iskander-M ballistic missiles in the Odesa port: 01.03.25 – bulk carrier “SUPER SARKAS” (Sierra Leone flag) and container ship “MSC LEVANTE F” (Panama flag); 11.03.25 – bulk carrier MJ Pinar (Barbados flag, 4 crew members died),” the expert wrote.

Despite the attacks, in January-March, 659 ship calls were made to the three ports of the Odessa region involved in the work of the “export corridor” (in January – 204, in February – 213, in March – 242).

As previously reported by USM, the ports of Great Odesa have processed over 20 million tons of cargo since the beginning of the year.