"We now have 100 cargo ships a day that want to come and load up with Ukrainian grains and iron ore," says Dmytro Barinov, deputy CEO of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority in Odesa. "When you remember that half of the World Food Program's food supplies come from Ukrainian grains, you understand the importance of this trade corridor to people in many parts of the world." There are a number of explanations for this success, but perhaps chief among them is Ukraine's development of an uncrewed boat, or sea drone, that over recent months has sunk so many Russian naval vessels that Moscow has been forced to withdraw its formidable navy far from key seaports like Odesa.
But over the past year, Ukraine's stunning and largely unheralded success in opening up a secure and dependable Black Sea shipping corridor has put the country on track to return its grain exports to nearly prewar levels. When the Russia-Ukraine war disrupted Ukraine's grain exports, food prices skyrocketed and global food insecurity spread. A multinational grain trade deal eased the food crunch somewhat – until Russia pulled out of the deal in July 2023.
As war closed down Black Sea shipping routes over the summer of 2022, Volodymyr Varbanets did what he says most of his fellow Odesa-region farmers did with their harvests. "It was hard and expensive to export with the sea routes shut down, so we kept our harvests in the silos," says the owner of a 540-acre farm where he grows wheat, barley, sunflower, and other cro.
