The importance of the Sulina Channel to Ukraine grain trade

Subject: IR

Section: Places in news

Context:

Russia, in overnight drone strikes targeted ports and grain storage facilities along the Danube river in Ukraine.

Details:

The Danube delta has provided Ukraine with an alternative passage for its grain after Russia withdrew from the Black Sea grain deal last month.
The deal, brokered by the UN and Turkey, used to provide safe passage for cargo ships carrying grain from Ukrainian Black Sea ports of Odessa, Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi.

Sulina Channel:

The ‘new’ trade route is the Sulina Channel – a 63 km long distributary of the Danube, connecting major Ukrainian ports on the river to the Black Sea, lying completely within the borders of Romania, a NATO member.
Near Tulcea, Romania, some 80 km from the sea, the river Denube begins to spread out into its delta which has three major channels – Chilia, Sulina and St George.
Of these, the Sulina Channel is the only one deep and wide enough for freight transport.
This makes it crucial for transport of goods from inland to the Black Sea.
Ships carrying grain from Ukraine leave from Ukrainian ports such as Izmail and Reni on the mainstream (or the Chilia Channel), and head to the port of Sulina, at the mouth of the Sulina Channel.
From there, they head around 140 km south to Constanta, Romania’s biggest seaport.
Here the cargo is transferred to bigger ships that carry it out of the Black Sea into the Mediterranean through the Bosphorus straits.
This route is under constant surveillance and protection of NATO.