P&I picks its way through Danube routing challenges

龙船客服 · 发表于 2023-10-16 16:44

本帖最后由龙船客服于 2023-10-16 16:46 编辑

Drone attacks on the Danube estuary ports in late August broadened Russian attempts to prevent Ukraine from exporting grain, but other rising risks to regional maritime safety are also calling for special attention from P&I, writes Nick Taylor, Head of Coastal & Inland, NorthStandard.

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Traffic has been growing fast along the Danube in 2023, and collisions, sinkings and groundings have also become increasingly frequent. The resulting claims have been complicated by owner unfamiliarity with regional conditions and cultures, and a local code of silence following ‘hit and run’ incidents.

Even before Russia quit the U.N.-brokered deal allowing Kyiv to ship its grain via the Black Sea, traffic passing through Ukraine Danube ports was accounting for around a quarter of the nation’s grain exports. Ukraine transhipped 8.1 million tonnes of grain through the port of Constanta in the first seven months of 2023 - over 40% of all grains handled by a port which already deals with exports from Romania itself, Hungary and Serbia. In May alone, grain volumes through Danube ports hit 2.2 million tonnes, overtaking exports made via the Black Sea corridor.

With the Danube route now the principle exit option for Ukrainian grain, Russian firepower will doubtless have a say in the handling capabilities of the Ukraine ports of Reni and Izmail - close to the Romanian border. However, recent Government projections still foresee Danube exports reaching at least 20 million tonnes in 2023 - three times pre-war volumes.

The routing switch and the consequent redeployment by North European owners of inland and coastal vessels to handle the new trade have created new challenges for operational safety along the Danube.

Congestion challenge

Where risk is concerned the conflict itself dominates day to day reporting, but the course of events has also caused major vessel congestion. The vessels coming into the market are maintained to the highest standards, but their crews may have little or no experience of working on these waters. In one example, a vessel in convoy came out of the bend in heavy weather on the wrong side of the river, causing a collision.

With port infrastructure under strain, there can also be disconnects between international operators and local authorities when incidents or accidents occur. Part of that is about lack of previous contact and different cultures when it comes to getting things done, but there have also been incidents where vessels have been hit, yet nobody seems to have seen anything.

In one instance, NorthStandard set up a meeting between one of its Members and the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network to take forward an investigation into a hit and run incident that led a moored barge to sink. Inquiries reached a dead end.

Nevertheless, NorthStandard has been invited to intervene in incidents on several occasions this year, including to support refloating operations. We have used our experience to coordinate and project manage, with our local correspondents helping to resolve issues where the infrastructure hasn’t been in place, whether that’s been through organizing crane lifts or refloats using balloons.