Ukraine has so far sent about 80,000 tonnes of grain to the Romanian port of Constanta, and even larger quantities are expected to arrive, according to the director of the National Company for the Administration of Maritime Ports (CNAPM) Constanta, Florin Goidea.

He explained that the grain arrived either by rail or barges on the Danube, and assured that the port has the capacity to handle additional grain exports, local Adevarul reported.

The storage capacity in the port of Constanta is about two million tonnes, and last year exports of about 24 mln tons were shipped from here.

The Ukrainian ports have been blocked since Russia's invasion started two months ago, and the country, a major agricultural producer, has been forced to export to Romania by rail on its western border or through its small Danube ports.

This month, transport minister Sorin Grindeanu announced that a wide-gauge Soviet-type railway line coming from the Republic of Moldova and going directly to the Romanian port of Galati would be rehabilitated quickly. Such a measure would speed up grain shipments from Moldova and Ukraine.

andrei@romania-insider.com

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