Russian attacks force Maersk to halt Chornomorsk service

Shipping group Maersk said on Tuesday it had halted its service via Ukraine's Chornomorsk Fishing Port, an announcement made after Russia intensified its ​attacks on Kyiv's maritime export routes.

Maersk is the second large company ‌to stop operations out of Chornomorsk this month after Ukraine's top grain exporter Kernel Holding halted operations at the city's main port last week due to a series of Russian ​attacks.

Without directly referring to Russian strikes, Maersk in a statement said ​that due to the current situation affecting its operations, it ⁠was unable to continue providing service to Ukraine via Chornomorsk Fishing Port.

"Therefore, ​our service via Chornomorsk Fishing Port is temporarily suspended until further notice."

Maersk did ​not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Russia has repeatedly attacked Ukraine's maritime export routes during the war, but the strikes on cargo vessels and deepwater ports that handle much of ​the country's grain have intensified in recent weeks. Moscow says its attacks ​are aimed at infrastructure storing military cargo and fuel.

Ukraine's infrastructure ministry said that the deepwater, ‌Black ⁠Sea port of Chornomorsk, as well as other ports of the Greater Odesa area, continued to operate. The Chornomorsk Fishing Port is a separate port operator, it said.

Maersk said a vessel originally scheduled to be unloaded at the ​Fishing Port would ​be diverted to ⁠Romania's Constanta, as would all other import shipments destined for Chornomorsk.

Ukraine, which previously accounted for about 6% of global ​wheat exports and about 11% of global corn exports, has lost ​about ⁠a third of its capacity to export grain via its Black Sea ports due to Russian missile and drone attacks, traders and analysts said.

Ukraine has also been ⁠hitting ​vessels in the Sea of Azov and the ​Black Sea as it seeks to isolate Crimea and undermine Moscow's war effort.

-Reuters