Ukraine earned an additional $1.5 billion after the opening of the Bystre estuary
9.05.2023 - 09:30
After the opening of the Bystre estuary for shipping in the Danube Delta, Ukraine earned an additional $1.5 billion.
The opening of the mouth of Bystre after the liberation of Zmiinyi Island made it possible to increase the throughput capacity of the ports of the Danube cluster by three times – up to 9 vessels per day.
Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov told about this in a column for NV Business .
The effect for the state was approximately 10 million additional tons of cargo per year. Also, after the opening of the Bystre estuary, the freight rate decreased by 30%.
Lowering the cost of logistics contributes to increasing the competitiveness of Ukrainian products on international markets, which has significantly weakened after the full-scale invasion of Russia.
In the first months of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, the only sea route that connected Ukraine to the world was the Sulina Canal, the main shipping channel at the mouth of the Danube in Romania. However, the capacity of the channel was extremely low, and on average, up to three ships per day passed through it to Ukrainian ports.
Ukraine also decided to match the historical operational characteristics of the Ukrainian section of the Danube River and to carry out dredging near the port berths, in order to receive even more ships and cargo.
Having brought the maximum draft to 6.5 m (previously it was 3.9 m), the Danube ports reached a record 12 ship calls and 90 thousand tons per day. The ports also developed their export capacity by launching additional capacities and processing new cargo nomenclature. For example, more than 20 new sea terminals were put into operation, in particular in the Reni port, and a container terminal was opened (until now, the Danube ports did not handle containers at all). In addition, the number of pilots was increased from 16 to 62.
After all, in March of this year, the Danube ports set an absolute monthly record of cargo handling — 2.8 million tons, and a daily record — 93.8 thousand tons.
