Romania will assist Ukraine in exporting grain by creating an anchorage at the port of Constanta, with construction planned to be completed by March 2024.

This was announced by the CEO of the state shipping company 'Ukrainian Danube Shipping,' Dmytro Moskalenko.

"In March of next year, an additional anchorage for Ukrainian agricultural products is planned to be launched in Constanta. Agreement on this has been reached in Romania during a meeting on increasing the export capacity of Ukrainian ports on the Danube," Moskalenko said.

According to him, discussions on the creation of anchorage points with Romanian counterparts began in September. Currently, due to the opening of the ports of Odesa, the flow of agricultural products through the Danube has decreased. However, the question of the 'reserve' direction for exporting agricultural products remains relevant, and the Danube could again become the main route.

Moskalenko emphasizes that in January and February, the Romanian side promises to conduct a tender and work on the regulatory framework to put the anchorage into operation by March.

In addition, an agreement was reached with Romania on an online queue for processing barges in Constanta, which will make the work more predictable.

"Idle barges in Constanta are additional costs for cargo owners and a catastrophic loss of fleet utilization efficiency," explained Moskalenko.