Black Sea region infrastructure development, terminals and handling trends

Romania. New berths for barges in Constanta

The port of Constanta will soon open a new facility for the transit of Ukrainian grain.  These infrastructure projects are financed by the European Union.

Such a berth was built for a very long time and was more relevant 1-1,5 years ago. The capacity of the terminals in Constanta was not enough to handle the flow of grain from Ukraine. In the peak season, up to 600 barges with grain were in line, waiting for 30-40 days to be unloaded.

Another berth is for grain transit from countries along the Danube. Today, the ports of Big Odesa handle more than 75% of Ukraine’s agricultural exports. The Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company (UDP) is replacing Ukrainian exports with grain from Middle Danube countries. UDP intends to deliver up to 200-250 K mt per month to Constanta.

Grain exports in 2023 through Constanta were record high at 36 M mt (50% more y/y). Ukrainian grain share was about 40%.

Poland. Grain storage modernization at Gdynia port continues

The expansion of the grain warehouse with a capacity of 64 K mt at the Port of Gdynia (northeastern Poland) is scheduled to be completed by December 2024. A conveyor system for unloading grain wagons and then transferring grain to ships will also be built. The project will also include new truck and wagon receiving stations.