According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, almost 37.5 million tons of grains were delivered to foreign markets from Ukraine in the period from 1 July 2024 (the start of the current marketing year) and to 21 May 2025, which is 17% below the same period in MY 2023-24.
“Stagnation” is probably the most optimistic term to describe the current small-tonnage market dynamics. In fact the situation is even worsening for ship owners in some regions. The industry events in Rotterdam and Copenhagen put additional pressure on activity, and not only in the Baltic & Continent.
According to the results of January-March 2025, the port of Giurgiulesti handled almost 621,400 tons of cargo, including 341,200 tons of exports and 280,200 tons of imports. In total, the port complex handled 309 vessels.
Dynamics of average mazut prices, $/tonne
The cargo turnover of the Riga Freeport amounted to 1.3 million t in April 2025, showing a 298,000 t plunge compared with March 2025. Note that the handling volumes decreased in all cargo groups.
Another week on the coaster shipping market is passing without a single note of optimism for ship owners. Particularly this applies to the Azov-Black Sea basin and the Mediterranean Sea . Given the extremely unfavorable conditions in the grain and metallurgical commodity sectors
The stevedoring companies of Liepaja SEZ handled a total of 676,000 t of various types of cargoes in April, exceeding the March transshipment by 138,000 t. The increase is owing to larger transshipment of dry cargo (up 168,000 t to 492,000 t) and liquid cargo (up 14,000 t to 33,000 t).
The cargo turnover decreased by 489,000 t to 3.8 million t at the port of Klaipeda in April 2025 compared with March due to weakened transshipment by both the Klaipeda State Seaport (down 369,000 t to 3.1 million t) and the Butinge terminal (down 120,000 t to 699,000 t).
Dynamics of average mazut prices, $/tonne
Activity has declined again on the small-tonnage shipping market due to the Labor Day celebrations. The cargo/tonnage imbalance has gotten even sharper, especially in North Europe , as this region accepts a lot of ballasters from the Mediterranean region (mainly these are vessels under 30 years old operated by Turkish owners).