Ukrzaliznytsia in talks with neighbouring countries to expand grain transit routes

Ukraine's state railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia is seeking new export routes for Ukrainian grain after Russian attacks on Black Sea ports disrupted shipments, CEO Oleksandr Pertsovskyi said in an interview with Bloomberg.

According to Pertsovskyi, the company is negotiating with neighbouring countries to expand transit corridors for agricultural exports.

"We are currently diversifying our export routes. We believe the situation at Odesa's ports will improve, but at the same time we are developing alternative options," he told Bloomberg.

Some grain exports have already been redirected to Ukraine's Danube ports, Romania's Port of Constanța, and rail corridors through Slovakia and Hungary.

However, Ukraine's Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food, Taras Vysotskyi, said that even when combined with the Danube route, rail transport can replace only about one-third of the throughput capacity of the Big Odesa Black Sea ports.

According to Vysotskyi, cooperation with international partners could allow rail logistics to move up to 1 million metric tons of grain per month. At the same time, record-low water levels on the Danube are limiting the capacity of the river corridor by hampering navigation.

"The biggest problem is the shutdown of the Big Odesa ports. There is no alternative to them. First and foremost, we need security. Ships are not calling because Russia is directly attacking them," Vysotskyi said.

The Ministry of Agrarian Policy has warned that unless exports through Odesa's ports resume, Ukraine could run out of grain storage capacity as early as the beginning of November.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, while expecting the government to present a package of measures to diversify export routes later this week, said disruptions to Ukrainian grain supplies could trigger a new cost-of-living crisis across countries in the Middle East and North Africa.