Romanian Black Sea port to keep shipping Ukrainian grain, seeks EU funding

Comvex SA

03/08/2022 10:00

By Luiza Ilie
    CONSTANTA, Romania, Aug 3 (Reuters) - At the Romanian Black
Sea port of Constanta dockers have worked for months to ship out
Ukrainian grain in addition to their usual loads from Romania
and its land-locked neighbours.
    Shipments arrive constantly. The grain, which is poured onto
conveyor belts in Constanta terminals, makes the air smell sweet
and covers workers seeking shade under the steel silos in a fine
layer of golden dust.     
    The export route is one of the few left open to Ukraine,
which before the conflict with Russia was one of the world's top
grain suppliers. Exporters have shipped 1.46 million tonnes of
Ukrainian grain through Constanta since Russia invaded the
country in February and the war halted shipments from Ukraine's
own Black Sea ports. 
    The first grain-carrying ship to leave the Ukrainian port of
Odesa since the war began under a safe passage agreement sailed
on Monday. Operators in Romania expect they will continue to
ship Ukrainian grain as it will take time to fully implement
that deal.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2ZD04Y  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2ZD4S7
    The grain arrives by road, rail or barge from Ukraine's
Danube river ports of Reni and Izmail.
    The safe passage deal has been seen as a glimmer of hope in
a worsening global food crisis. Turkey, which brokered the deal
together with the United Nations, expects roughly one grain ship
to leave Ukrainian ports each day as long as the agreement
holds.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2ZE1S4
    Romanian port operator Comvex  CMVX.BX  said it will fill
two ships later this week -- one carrying 30,500 tonnes of
Ukrainian and Romanian corn headed to Libya and the second
45,000 tonnes of Ukrainian corn to Iran.     
    "It all depends on how the Istanbul agreement works out and
on the quantities that Ukrainian ports can ship out," Comvex
manager Viorel Panait told Reuters. 
    "With all our hearts we wish they can restore their chain
flows. But we are here, ready to help." 
    Comvex has invested 4 million euros ($4.09 million) in a
second barge offloading platform which became operational at the
end of July, and boosted its total processing capacity to 84,000
tonnes in and 70,000 tonnes out per day. 
    Last year, Constanta's port shipped a record high 25.2
million tonnes of grain from Romania and landlocked neighbours
Serbia, Hungary, Moldova and Austria. 
    Known as Europe's breadbasket, Ukraine hopes to export 20
million tonnes of grain held in silos and 40 million tonnes from
the harvest now under way, initially from Odesa and nearby
Pivdennyi and Chornomorsk, to help make way for the new crop.
    
    BOTTLENECKS
    As of end-June, Comvex had handled roughly 70% of Ukrainian
grains and other goods to come through Constanta, including
almost 800,000 tonnes of iron ore. It plans to invest 60 million
euros this year and next to boost operations, Panait said.
    Transport from Ukraine has been hampered by rail
infrastructure problems and low water levels on the Danube after
weeks of high temperatures and drought, meaning barges cannot
carry full loads.  
    Port authorities said 183,581 tonnes of grains were
currently en route to Constanta, which will also continue to
export other Ukrainian goods not covered by the safe passage
agreement, including steel products, iron ore and pipes.
    The Constanta Port Business Association, which Panait also
runs, said the ten port operators who handle Ukrainian goods in
addition to their regular customers will need 340 million euros
worth of investment in equipment to boost processing speed. 
    They have asked for European Union funds and government loan
guarantees. In July, the Romanian government told Reuters it was
mulling a pilot programme to acquire equipment "to increase
operating speed in grain terminals." It is also working on
rehabilitating 35 port rail lines and removing hundreds of rusty
wagons blocking the tracks.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2X53QL

 (Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Krisztina Than and
Alexandra Hudson)
 ((luiza.ilie@thomsonreuters.com; +4021 527 0312; https://www.reuters.com/journalists/luiza-ilie))