Black Sea Containerized Freight Rises, Led by Rebound in Ukraine

The Black Sea container terminals of Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine handled 979,000 TEU in the first nine months of 2024, including empty containers and transshipment. This is an increase of 14 percent compared to the same period last year, and the jump reflects the revival of containerized trade to and from Ukrainian ports. (This review considers laden container trade by sea only, since waterborne container traffic in Ukraine is about 25 percent of the total.)

Laden container turnover increased in all these countries, and the highest growth was achieved by Ukraine (79 percent).

During this period, 53 percent of full containers handled were imported, with 47 percent of the volume being exported. It is estimated that th…