Repairs at the NKHP grain terminal operating in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk could take up to four months after the Ukrainian drone attack on August 12.
Russia’s state-owned United Grain Company confirmed that the NKHP facility was damaged in the attack. The final repair schedule has not yet been determined for the facility, one of the port’s three grain terminals; the damaged sections include a loading gallery.
Grain operations suspended in Novorossiysk
Operations at all three grain terminals in the port were halted after the large-scale drone attack on Novorossiysk on August 12. Demetra’s export terminal sustained more limited damage than NKHP, according to NKHP.
The third terminal, operated by Delo Group, was not damaged during the attack. However, work at the facility could not continue because operations had been suspended.
Alternative routes under consideration
With an annual capacity of 7.1 million tons, NKHP is one of the three largest grain terminals at the Port of Novorossiysk. The combined annual capacity of the three facilities exceeds 20 million tons.
Russia’s grain exports by sea stood at 52.7 million tons last season. Before the attacks, ports on the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov handled approximately 70 percent of the country’s grain exports.
Attacks in recent months have led to the near-total suspension of grain shipments through these ports. To ease the disruption to export flows, the Russian government is considering scrapping the grain export tax and redirecting shipments to routes through the Baltic, the Caspian Sea and the Far East.