Black Sea Export Disruption
Russia’s crude exports from its largest Black Sea port remain constrained after Ukrainian drone attacks, with the two biggest berths still not loading. (bloomberg.com) Ukraine has also effectively lost access to the Sea of Azov, a corridor once used for steel, wheat, vegetable oils and coal, and Kyiv said it launched secret space missions during the conflict to signal counter-space capabilities. (aljazeera.com) (independent.co.uk)
Russia’s biggest Black Sea oil gateway is still operating below capacity after Ukrainian drone strikes knocked out its two largest loading berths. (bloomberg.com) The disruption is centered on Novorossiysk, where the Sheskharis terminal usually loads large tankers and the nearby Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal handles crude from Kazakhstan as well as a slice of global supply. Reuters reported on April 6 that the attack damaged loading infrastructure, storage tanks and a single-point mooring used offshore. (usnews.com) Shipping data reviewed by Bloomberg showed only the smaller berth at Sheskharis loading, while the two larger berths remained idle a week after the strike. Reuters said Sheskharis typically moves about 600,000 to 700,000 barrels a day of crude, making even a partial outage material for Russian export flows. (bloomberg.com) (marinelink.com) The Black Sea bottleneck lands as Ukraine has effectively lost its own coast on the Sea of Azov, the shallow inland sea linked to the Black Sea through the Kerch Strait. Before Russia’s full-scale invasion, Mariupol and Berdiansk shipped steel, grain, vegetable oil and coal through that corridor. (aljazeera.com) (britannica.com) Russia now controls the coastline around the Sea of Azov after occupying or claiming parts of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, while Crimea has given Moscow control over the Kerch Strait approach since 2014. Al Jazeera reported that analysts see little commercial upside for Russia because Mariupol’s steel plants are wrecked and the sea’s ports are too shallow for the biggest cargo ships. (aljazeera.com) Ukraine has rebuilt part of its export system farther west through Odesa, Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi on the Black Sea. The United States Department of Agriculture said in June 2025 that maritime routes through Black Sea and Danube ports had again become Ukraine’s cheapest and most important path for grain exports. (ams.usda.gov) Kyiv is also using the war to signal that it can threaten Russian systems beyond ships and ports. In an interview published April 13, lawmaker Fedir Venislavskyi said Ukrainian military intelligence had carried out two previously undisclosed rocket launches above 100 kilometers and 204 kilometers, which he described as proof of a counter-space capability. (pravda.com.ua) Moscow says Ukrainian attacks are targeting civilian energy infrastructure, while Kyiv has framed strikes on ports, oil depots and logistics hubs as attacks on assets that finance and supply Russia’s war. The immediate result is visible at the waterline: fewer usable berths at Novorossiysk, and one more reminder that control of the Black Sea and Sea of Azov still shapes the war’s economy. (usnews.com) (aljazeera.com)
