Russia has blocked the Kerch Strait. Losses are being counted in Ukraine
The Russian Federation has blocked the movement of ships through the Kerch Strait. It's connected with the start of traffic on the railway section Crimean Bridge, in which the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin will take part.
A fugitive Crimean economist, a member of the Maidan of Foreign Affairs, Andrei Klimenko, writes about this on his blog, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
According to the expert, traffic through the strait has been blocked since yesterday.
“The monitoring group of the Institute of Black Sea Strategic Studies, the editorial board and the Maidan of Foreign Affairs reports that in connection with the expected participation of the President of the Russian Federation in the opening of the railway part of the bridge across the Kerch Strait to the occupied Crimea, traffic along the strait was blocked throughout the day on December 22, 2019 “- writes Klimenko.
The economist also notes that a day of idle time for one vessel in the strait costs its owner thousands of dollars.
“From 7 to 15 thousand US dollars per day, depending on various parameters of the vessel,” writes Klimenko.
At the same time, former admiral of the Ukrainian Navy Igor Kabanenko clarifies that the amounts may be higher: “I would like to clarify: there are ships that sail through the Kerch Strait, where the daily delay is equal to losses of $25 thousand.”
“Yes, it depends on the size of the vessel, the number of crew, fuel consumption and other things,” Klimenko agrees with him.
Previously, the head of the Administration of Sea Ports of Ukraine Raivis Veckagans statedthat the ports of Mariupol and Berdyansk are suffering due to a significant decrease in cargo flows and the reluctance of foreign companies to get involved with problematic Ukrainian partners.
It was also said that only Mariupol commercial port announced about 500 million hryvnia losses due to Russia's tightening of inspection of ships in the Sea of Azov.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.