This is one of the many consequences of the war in Ukraine: a global food crisis is looming. The blockade of Ukrainian ports, imposed by Russia, has paralyzed grain exports, mainly to Africa and the Middle East.
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In the Gulf of Odessa, the sea was mined. These are mines weighted or anchored to the bottom and which were installed by the two belligerents: by the Russians to block commercial traffic, but also by the Ukrainians, to prevent the enemy from approaching. Clearing this area might take some time, but it is doable. The Turks could be on the move, they who have mine-hunting ships.
African Union President Macky Sall has called for the demining of the port of Odessa. And if the port is cleared, Russia will not take the opportunity to attack: this is what Vladimir Putin told Macky Sall. France, for its part, is also pleading for a rapid end to the crisis. Paris evokes the establishment of a secure corridor in the Black Sea, allowing merchant ships to leave Odessa.
A port official explains that the storage time for these cereals is not infinite, and that for the moment we only manage to evacuate the wheat in droplets, by land. At the exit of the city, we see every day thousands of trucks heading towards Romania. But there is traffic jam on the roads. It takes two weeks to reach the border, which is only 250 kilometers from here. Exports are also made by train, but the Ukrainian infrastructure is not adapted to such a flow of goods.
The only solution is therefore to export these millions of tonnes of cereals by sea. 20 million tonnes currently, to which will be added in the coming weeks 30 million tonnes from the upcoming harvest. Moreover, in Odessa, the largest port in Ukraine, nearly half of the population depends on the port to live: dockers, sailors, employees of logistics companies. All are now unemployed.