German container shipping company Hapag-Lloyd has resumed sea freight service to Ukraine, a company spokeswoman confirmed to dpa on Thursday.
The spokeswoman said the company has been offering feeder services through a third-party supplier since the beginning of this week.
As part of this service, a smaller container ship mainly transports agricultural goods such as sunflower oil and grain.
The ship, with a capacity of 1,100 standard containers (TEU), sails every five days between Constanța in Romania and the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Chornomorsk.
The Hapag-Lloyd spokeswoman emphasized that the company has never stopped providing freight services to Ukraine, but switched to using land routes in the wake of Russia’s large-scale invasion of the country in February 2022 and the blockade of the Ukrainian Black Sea ports.
The export of Ukrainian agricultural products was temporarily allowed under an agreement with Russia mediated by the UN and Turkey. But that deal expired in the summer of 2023.
Since last August, Kiev has independently designated a corridor for the safe passage of merchant ships from Ukrainian ports.
Since then, Russia has repeatedly attacked port facilities with missiles and drones. However, the Ukrainian military has so far successfully held Russian ships at bay with naval drones and anti-ship missiles.
According to Ukraine, the country was able to export almost 15 million tons of goods via the Black Sea in the last five months of last year.
A total of 469 cargo ships called at the three Black Sea ports of Odessa, Chornomorsk and Pivdenny.
However, Ukrainian export volumes are still far below those before the start of the large-scale Russian invasion. In 2021, more than 100 million tons were exported through all Ukrainian seaports.
Russian troops are currently occupying the Ukrainian ports of Mariupol and Berdyansk on the Sea of Azov.
