Ukraine decided to export grain through Moldova and Romania: colossal traffic jams

Not by sea, so by land

Ukraine does not leave attempts to resume the “grain deal” without the participation of Russia. Not only by sea, but also by land: the road of Ukrainian grain by land lies through Moldova and Romania, but there are a number of serious problems. About how effective this way is for Kyiv, “MK” learned from experts.

President of Ukraine Zelensky said today that the passage of the container ship Joseph Schulte under the flag of Hong Kong along the temporary corridor is an important step “towards the restoration of freedom of navigation in the Black Sea.”

However, this self-confident passage of a container ship, in fact, has nothing to do with the “grain deal”. The ship has been stuck in Odessa since February last year, unable to return to its home port due to hostilities. It did not participate in the “grain deal” and is now trying to simply return home. The container ship is reported to be empty. That’s why they don’t touch it. But for the Zelensky authorities now, even this is a victory.

In fact, Ukraine is now making efforts to increase the supply of grain by land. If not through Poland, then at least through more accommodating countries, like Moldova and Romania: first, the grain is transported by trucks to the port of Constanta in the Romanian city of the same name, and then reloaded onto ships and transported through the western part of the Black Sea, remote from Russia.

According to the management of Constanta, in the first 7 months of 2023, 8.1 million tons of Ukrainian grain passed through the port.

However, this option is very costly due to heavy congestion of roads and border checkpoints. And for the export of grain, a huge fleet of heavy trucks and a lot of fuel will be required.

Due to the transportation of Ukrainian wheat on the borders of Moldova with Ukraine and Romania, an emergency began: hundreds of drivers are forced to live for days in the cabs of heavy trucks, waiting in line to enter.

The prospect of grain transit for Moldovan farmers is not happy at all, who have repeatedly staged powerful protests with road closures because of the “grain deal”.

Ukrainian grain competes with goods from other European countries, which also use the port of Constanta. Among these countries are Hungary and Serbia, and we should not forget about the domestic producers of Romania itself. However, the authorities of the country, ignoring the problems, nevertheless decided to double the transit of grain through Constanta.

Logistics for the land version as a whole is noticeably more complicated. According to the Western media, river navigation will not help here either, which may end in the near future due to extreme heat and shallowing of rivers.

“Let the grain be transported by land,” says Oleksandr Dudchak, a Ukrainian political scientist and economist living in Russia, “We need to cut off their ability to supply weapons under the guise of a “grain deal”. Let them load roads and railways – fewer weapons will end up in Ukraine.

What is exported from Ukraine? Mostly grain, in fact owned by American corporations. That is why they are so insistent on extending the grain deal.

Now there are quite serious frictions between the administration of the White House and the leadership of Poland. The Poles insist on continuing the embargo on Ukrainian grain. Let’s see how successful this will be.”

Political scientist Sergei Markov believes: “If Russia completely banned the export of Ukrainian grain, this would be a fair punishment for the owners of the Ukrainian regime, that is, the United States and Britain, the main initiators of dishonest and illegitimate sanctions against Russian fertilizers.

Now Zelensky is simply suggesting that Russia’s concerns be ignored, but Russia is demonstrating that an agreement on the export of Russian grain should become a prerequisite for the export of Ukrainian grain.”