The Minister said that of those 15 million tonnes of exports by sea, 10 million account for Ukrainian agricultural goods.

“Over the five months of the corridor’s operation, 469 new vessels have called at our Ukrainian ports for loading. Currently, 39 vessels are being loaded in the ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk, and Pivdennyi. Another 83 vessels have confirmed their readiness to call at the ports and export 2.4 million tons of cargo,” the Inrastructure Ministry wrote.

Russia started the blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports from the beginning of its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In August 2022, the first commercial vessel carrying Ukrainian grain left Odesa Port under the grain deal brokered by Türkiye and the UN. Over the subsequent year, Russia suspended the deal several times and delayed the inspection of the vessels, demanding to ease Western sanctions against Russia. Finally, in July 2023, Russia withdrew from the deal along with a threat to consider all vessels as potential military targets.

Later in July, Ukraine informed the UN shipping agency about establishing a temporary shipping route to maintain grain shipments after Russia quit the Black Sea grain agreement. The temporary corridor has been adjacent to Romania and Bulgaria along the western Black Sea coast. In August, Ukraine announced temporary routes for commercial vessels sailing to and from Ukraine’s Black Sea seaports.

Ukraine’s Naval Forces: Ukraine announces temporary routes for commercial vessels