The queue of vessels waiting to enter the Danube's Sulina Canal to load at Ukrainian ports has not shrunk over the past week, and stands at about 80 ships, shippers said on Monday.
Russian attacks have effectively blocked Ukraine's main Black Sea ports, which once handled 90 per cent of the country's grain exports, forcing Kyiv to divert cargo through Danube river ports with far lower capacity.
Shippers say eight vessels a day were passing through to the ports last week and that, "with this approach, the queue will not get shorter anytime soon".
Vessels heading to Ukraine's Danube ports face an average wait of up to 17 days.
Analysts and traders say delays have been attributed to a shortage of pilots and the need to prioritise certain cargoes, including fuel shipments.
Ukraine relied heavily on Danube ports earlier in the war when Russia blocked the ports of the Greater Odessa region. Grain export capacity through the Danube peaked at 2.5 million tonnes a month in 2022 to 2023.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Jan Harvey)