Odessa, a vital port for the Ukrainian economy and world trade
Cargo ships in the port of Odessa in November 2016. REUTERS - Valentyn Ogirenko
Text by: Agnieszka Kumor
3 mins
Since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian fleet has controlled the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, leaving millions of tons of grain stuck in silos, on land or on ships.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is calling on the international community to unblock these ports to resume deliveries and avert a global food crisis.
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Nicknamed the Pearl of the Black Sea, Odessa is the only port in Ukraine with sufficient technological and logistical capabilities to accommodate incoming and outgoing trade flows.
It is through this port city in southern Ukraine, the country's third largest city, that three quarters of Ukrainian grain and steel exports leave.
This gives Odessa a quasi-monopoly position in Ukrainian foreign trade.
In 1823, Alexander Pushkin, who had just spent a sad stay in Kishinev, said of Odessa that one “
breathes Europe
” there.
The maritime vocation of the city bears witness to these few verses taken from his most famous novel,
Eugene Onegin
: “[over there]
trade hoists its sails, it is active and opulent
”.
Millions of tons of goods
It must be said that the city founded in 1794 by Empress Catherine II has experienced rapid growth.
It became a free port in 1819 and remained so until 1859. A naval base during the Soviet era, Odessa became a free port and a free zone again in 2000 and for 25 years.
Today, Odessa is no longer a single port, but a real port complex made up of three distinct units, each specializing in the handling of different goods.
Metallurgical products are exported from Odessa, and 100% of oil imported from abroad enters the country through this port.
Through Yuzhniy, located in the southern suburbs, transit shipments of chemicals, iron ore and coal produced in the country.
Through the third port, Chernomorsk, located southwest of Odessa, all Ukrainian agricultural products, mainly wheat, are shipped.
Knowing that the three ports are the only ones in the country to have basins deep enough to accommodate large container ships.
In total, more than 91 million tons of goods passed through the three port units of Odessa in 2019.
On the verge of a shortage
Russia 's
blocking of Ukrainian ports
has fueled volatility in global financial markets, experts say, contributing to soaring commodity prices.
"
For the first time in decades and decades, here in Odessa there are no regular movements of the merchant fleet, there is no routine port work
," the Ukrainian president said after meeting met with the President of the European Council Charles Michel, who is visiting Odessa.
Ukrainian grain silos are full, almost 4.5 million tons of grain are languishing in them, food can neither go out nor go in.
Hundreds of millions of people around the world depend on these supplies and the situation is becoming urgent.
According to the World Food Program (WFP), ports in the Odessa region must be reopened to prevent the global food crisis from spiraling out of control.
► Also to listen: Ukraine: with Donbass refugees in Odessa who hope for "the opportunity to return"
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