In 2023, Ukraine impressed the world with its growth in grain exports through the Black Sea port of Constanta in Romania, where it recorded more than 60% growth. This impressive result was made possible by an intensive increase in supplies from Ukraine and active infrastructure projects.

According to Reuters, Constanta shipped 36 million metric tons of grain last year, up 50% year-on-year. Of this volume, Ukrainian grain accounted for about 40%, or 14 million tons, compared to 13.0 million at the end of November and 8.6 million for the whole of 2022.

Ukraine, already one of the world's largest grain exporters, uses Constanta as a key export route, especially after Russia's repeated attacks on its river ports during the full-scale invasion. These attacks provided a valuable incentive to find an alternative export route, and Constanta proved to be the most successful option for Kyiv.

The port administration reports that the gross cargo turnover in Constanta in 2023 amounted to 92.5 million tons, which is 22.5% more than in the previous year. Romania plans to increase its transit capacity for Ukrainian grain to 4 million tons per month and has already begun to modernize the rail and road infrastructure in and around the port.

EU-funded investment projects in and around Constanta total 546.8 million euros ($598.47 million), with other projects worth another 218 million euros pending. According to Reuters, in December, Romanian Transport Minister Sorin Grindeanu said that the EU-funded project to provide round-the-clock navigation on the Sulin Canal of the Danube River, which leads to Constanta, has been completed and is awaiting commissioning.