The queue in Sulina can add about $10 per ton to the freight cost

Waiting for passage through the Sulina Canal currently reaches about 10 days, which can add about $10 per ton to the cost of transporting cargo.

This was reported by Avalon Shipping Operations Manager Kateryna Kononenko.

According to her, for a vessel with a deadweight of about 6 thousand tons, the demurrage rate is about $5-7 thousand per day. In terms of cargo, this approximately adds about $1 per ton for each day of waiting.

Thus, a ten-day queue can increase transportation costs by about $10 per ton. If the wait lasts 20 days, the additional costs can reach about $20 per ton.

For a cargo shipment of 5 thousand tons, this means about $100 thousand in additional costs for 20 days of downtime.

Kononenko noted that previously charter parties usually provided for two free days of waiting, and part of the losses could be compensated for by faster loading or unloading of the vessel. Under the current queues, this mechanism actually stops working.

As a result, the long wait in Sulin becomes a separate component of the freight cost.

Earlier, USM reported that the business is asking to exempt the ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi from rent.