How Odesa Port attacks hurt the supply of grain to Africa

Odesa is the third-most populated city in Ukraine, with a population of more than one million people.

It is located in the southwest of Ukraine on the Black Sea, and it has the Black Sea routes to the ports of Turkey and the Mediterranean Sea routes to African countries.

It has one of the eight Ukrainian ports that are neither blocked nor occupied by Russian forces.

The port has the Odesa grain terminal, which has specialised infrastructure facilities designed for the processing, storage and transportation of agricultural products to the international market.

As a result of the occupation of Crimea in the spring of 2014, five ports in the region remain under occupation.

Berdyansk and Mariupol, ports that were critical in shipping grain to Africa, were also occupied in the spring of 2022.

Most of the shipping works from these two ports were moved to the ports of Odesa and Mykolaiv.

The terminals play a key role in ensuring the stable export of agricultural products from Ukraine to the world market.

The port is also critical to the proper functioning of the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

That is why, according to port authority officials, Russia is hell-bent on destroying its infrastructure after pulling out of the deal.

The attacks have also been extended to other parts of Odesa, and this has seen at least 28 civilians lose their lives with over a hundred others sustaining serious injuries.

FOOD SECURITY

In a meeting with journalists from 10 African countries, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said attacks by Russia on critical port infrastructure have not broken their determination and interest in guaranteeing food security.

This is not just for the sake of the rest of the world but for the sake of Ukraine as well because they want to sell grain, after all, he said.

He said despite being at war, Ukraine has managed to distribute $160 million grain for free to various countries, including Ethiopia and Germany, through the Grain from Ukraine initiative.

“In one month that this parallel corridor existed, we built it in partnership with Romania, Bulgaria and to other destinations, including Turkey. Ukraine transported 4 million tonnes in the first month of its existence,” Zelensky said.

“Yes, it is longer there. There are challenges, but we achieved the same amount. It shows that Ukraine is ready to deliver as much as it did. We are ready and willing to do that.

“Even after the war is over, we will have to guarantee food security for nations around the world. Africa, Europe and elsewhere.”

Mykola Gorbachov, president of the Ukrainian Grain Association, says more than 6 million hectares of agricultural land cannot be used for grain production because it is full of mines placed by Russian forces. He said that this represents at least 30 per cent of Ukrainian territory.

“Six million hectares of agricultural land in Ukraine have been affected by the war by either being mined, contaminated, occupied or undergoing military operations,” Gorbachov said.

“Ukrainian farmers, who have already suffered heavy losses from the war and then from the blockade of Ukrainian ports, are unable to clear their own fields of mines on their own in most cases.”

He said this is affecting the distribution of food across the world.

BLACK SEA GRAIN INITIATIVE

After months of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a deal was reached brokered by neighbouring Turkey and the United Nations to allow for movement of grains out of Ukraine to the rest of the world. 

Another parallel deal was signed by Turkey, Russia and the United Nations to facilitate the initiative. Turkey and the UN acted as intermediaries. 

The invasion began on February 24, 2022, despite the Russo-Ukrainian conflict having started in February 2014. The war added fuel to the fire of economic problems a world reeling from the pandemic and climate change was facing. As a result, the cost of food skyrocketed across the world, and Africa was the hardest hit.

The deal to allow passage of grain from Ukraine was dubbed the Black Sea Grain Initiative. It was signed in Istanbul on July 22, 2022. The first vessel left the Odesa Port on August 1, 2022.

Ukrainian Sea Port Authority (USPA) officials say the Black Sea Grain Initiative saw the transportation of more than 33 million tonnes of grain, most of which was going to Africa.

However, the initiative lasted only a year, up to July 17, 2023, and soon after, Russia resumed attacks on Ukrainian ports and port infrastructure.

By mid-November, Russia had already launched about 21 attacks on Ukrainian port infrastructure in the Odesa region.

Port officials said the attacks by Russia were previously focused on the ports of Chornomorsk, Odesa and Privdennyi, then the attacks moved to the ports of Runi, Izmail and Ust’ Dunaysk.

BLACKMAIL AND DAMAGE

USPA deputy CEO Dmytro Barinov says the attacks and blocking of vessels shipping grain are ways in which Russia is trying to blackmail Ukraine.

“The problem is that the Russian Federation is blocking the ways. It’s their typical blackmailing behaviour. From the beginning of the war when all ports were blocked the prices rose. When this Grain initiative was signed in 2022, this way of shipping started again and prices reduced. We think that these things have a direct connection.

“If the price is reduced, the WFP can buy more and transport more grain. If we talk about Europe we only see the question of price of grain and if we talk about Africa and Ukraine we see the question of food or something to eat,” he told journalists during a visit to Odesa Port.

USPA said these attacks destroyed 164 objects of the port infrastructure, including silos and elevators.

With 30 to 40 per cent of the three ports damaged, economic activities on the ports reduced by up to 40 per cent, and at least 300,000 tonnes of grain that should have also been transported to Africa was destroyed during the attacks.

“Seven foreign vessels were destroyed in the process, and more than 22 civilian were injured and three of them lost their lives.”

Following the collapse of the Black Sea Grain deal, Ukraine has been exploring alternative routes and means of transporting grain to other parts of the world.

Through orders by the Navy Forces of Ukraine, three temporary corridors were opened to facilitate movement of grain in three ways.

This included corridors for vessels with drafts of up to three meters, secondly, vessels with drafts of up to 12 meters, and thirdly, vessels that are more than 12 meters.

Since this search for alternative corridors started. about 4 million tonnes of grain has been shipped from Ukraine.

While the Russian blockade of the Black Sea remains, Dmytro said, the Ukrainian Military has helped them in creating ways of defending the vessels that transport grain. He said that their focus is now fully on increasing capacity.

“We partially restored what was possible to restore, and we went into new forms of transportation, and we are using new methods to make this capacity as big as possible. We are on the way to increasing capacity,” he said.

“We have been increasing exports through the ports. In March 2022, it was zero exports of agricultural products, then 400,000 tonnes in April, 800,000 in May. And May this year was a record from old times, even from the Soviet times, it was 3 million tonnes.

“And it is small vessels that have to go through the Sulina canal, which belongs to Romania. That’s why they can only reach Turkey or northern Africa, and not for longer distances.”

The USPA deputy CEO added that they are working on alternative routes with the European Union to make the shipping process faster, easier and simpler.

“But in any case, we can’t replace the possibilities of the Black Sea ports. [They are] deep and efficient, that is why it is very important to unblock them to make them free.”

GRAIN HUBS

To avert future crises in relation to grain supply across the world, Volodymyr Zelensky now wants to partner with willing African countries as well as other European nations to construct grain hubs.

He insists this will help ensure the continued supply of grain to the rest of the world, even if the war persists.

Zelensky said he has engaged several African countries on the matter, including Morocco and South Africa.

"When we say Ukraine can help Africa with grain, we do that because we can," he said.

"And we ask our European partners to help us transport grain to those who need it using grain corridors. This is a very important element in reducing crisis, and the African leaders who have visited Ukraine could see that."

He said his administration is willing and ready to invest in building the grain hubs, and he is waiting to receive proposals from African countries that want to be a part of it. The Ukrainian President said that Morocco is one such country.

Zelensky said this is part of what he would like to also discuss with African leaders, especially on the identification of places where pilot gran hubs can be established on the continent.

"We understand that Russia may once again try and block something after the war, and so the idea is to build overseas destinations, including Morocco. We are waiting for information and proposals," he said.

"We are willing to invest in building two or three hubs in Africa if our partners are interested. We made this plan of ours known to South Africa and other nations, and this is one of the reasons I would want to talk to African leaders to identify where pilot hubs can be started." 

Zelensky said having a neighbour like Russia necessitates having contingency measures in place, which will ensure a continued supply of grain in case of another invasion. And the grain hubs stand the best chance of ensuring the cost of food does not rise due to unavailability of grains.

He said Ukrainian farmers want to sell their grain and this is the best way it can happen, with the war on. 

CALL FOR FRIENDSHIP

Ukraine has recently up scaled its efforts to strengthen ties with African countries. This has seen the country move towards opening an additional 10 new embassies on the continent.

Currently, Ukraine has 11 operational embassies in Africa.

Zelensky, however, notes that what they seek is not a forced friendship with anyone, but a mutually beneficial partnership between both countries.

He said Ukraine’s cooperation with any other country should be a win-win in culture, economy and personal conduct that will not damage each other’s rights and freedoms.

“We work as free people and we are very much interested in strategic partnership between us and any African nation and not generally the African Union," he said.

“These relations should be based upon mutual respect and respect for the territorial integrity of the nations. Respect to sovereignty, language and culture.

“We can’t force anyone to be our friend, we don’t want to generate fakes. It cannot be enforced upon anyone that we are different from Russia. We'll certainly respect any nation that respects us.”