Ukraine Railway Seeks New Grain Routes as Russia Strikes Ports

Ukraine’s state rail operator is looking to add new export routes for the country’s critical grain harvest, after Russian attacks on its Black Sea ports curbed shipments.

Escalating hostilities between Kyiv and Moscow have seen both sides strike key grain exporting infrastructure in recent weeks. Russian attacks have disrupted flows out of Odesa, which handles about 90% of Ukrainian grain shipments. That’s a body blow to Ukraine, which last year generated more than half its export revenue from the farm sector.

State rail operator Ukrzaliznytsia is in talks with neighboring countries to expand transit corridors, according to Chief Executive Officer Oleksandr Pertsovskyi. It’s already diverting some grain to the Danube ports, Romania’s port of Constanta as well as to Slovakia and Hungary, he said.

“We are currently diversifying export routes,” the CEO said in an interview Monday. “We believe that the situation in Odesa ports will be better, but we are still building alternative routes.”

Still, the railway combined with the Danube river route can only transport a third of the capacity of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, according to Agrarian Minister Taras Vysotskyi.

Cooperating with its partners, the railway can handle a maximum of 1 million tons of grains a month, he said. The Danube option is also limited by record low water levels in Europe’s second-longest river, which is hindering navigation.

“Our biggest problem is the shutdown of Greater Odesa ports — there is no alternative to them,” Vysotskyi said. “Security is needed above all. Ships do not sail, because Russia is directly attacking ships.”

Unless those flows through Odesa can be restored, Ukraine may exhaust its grain storag capacity by early November, according to Agriculture Ministry.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who expects his government to come up with a list of measure this week to diversify export routes, warned that disruptions to grain shipments could fuel a cost-of-living crisis in the Middle East and North Africa.

IC UAC according to bloomberg