Building alternative export infrastructure capable of replacing Ukraine’s Black Sea ports could require ten years of investment, Deputy Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotskyy said on June 24, 2022, according to The Guardian.

His estimate concerned replacing blocked export routes, rather than a blanket ten-year timetable to repair every port. He said Ukraine had spent about twenty years developing its Black Sea port infrastructure, starting in 2000.

Alternative routes were important but could handle only around a third of Ukrainian exports, he said. Russia’s blockade had left millions of tonnes of grain unable to reach international markets, contributing to concern about food prices and hunger.

Vysotskyy said ships would need concrete guarantees of safe passage before maritime exports could resume. He also reported damage to port facilities, including a grain terminal in Mykolaiv.

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