Turkish seaports seem to be the major beneficiary of the ongoing Russia Ukraine war. The ports in the transcontinental country got the additional cargoes as Turkey did not ban Russian flag vessels while the United States, European Union, and many Asian nations did so amid sanctions over the Ukraine invasion in late February.
Data show that the Turkish ports saw an increase in handling of transshipment cargoes by 6,000 tons during January-April this year compared to the same period of last year. The ports handled 130.8 million tons of cargo from January to April 2022 which include 27.7 million tons of transit cargo against 124.9 million tons of cargo including 24.4 million tons of transit cargo in the same period in 2021.
However, the blockade of the black sea has a great impact on Turkish ports in terms of transshipment of Russian and Ukrainian cargoes. The Black Sea washes the shores of both Russia and Ukraine which are now fighting each other thus their external trade is greatly hampered.
In the first quarter of 2022, Russia exported 17.2 million tons of cargo to the Russian domestic market against 19.6 million tons in the same period of the previous year. The Turkish ports also received a higher volume of cargoes from other countries in the Black Sea, as Bulgaria and Romania have banned Russian ships from entry into their ports.
Source: container-news.com