Lloyd’s List has prepared an overview of the work of the Ukrainian maritime sector during the war. CFT has highlighted the main points of the publication, supplementing it with comments from industry experts.
More than 30 port workers have died as a result of Russian attacks, and the cost of repairing or restoring all damaged Ukrainian port terminals is estimated at several billion dollars and will last at least five years. But despite everything, most Ukrainian terminals remain operational, and ships continue to deliver Ukrainian export products to various countries around the world, Lloyd's List recently wrote. CTS pasked maritime industry experts to comment on the publication.
The global shipping industry is watching as Ukrainian ports and shipping companies continue to operate despite Russian attacks. And the world's specialized media have already written about this resilience, although more often in conjunction with Ukraine's undeniable military successes in the Black Sea.
"Ukraine has been able to maintain critical maritime operations despite constant air attacks and interruptions due to them," said Erik Froste, CEO of Swedish Road Ferries, at the Maritime Intelligence 2025 executive meeting in Gothenburg in January this year.
At the time, Froste, who was appointed by the European Advisory Mission to Ukraine to support its maritime sector, noted that new air raid shelters had been built in ports directly next to ship loading operations and generators had been installed in case of power outages.
But in the aforementioned publication, Lloyd's List focuses more on how Ukrainian shipping has changed since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. "The war has changed trade flows and forced the once thriving maritime sector to quickly adapt to operations that are now often carried out outside Ukraine," the article says.
Most charter operators that were based in Odessa now work "in exile" - from Glyfada and other suburbs of Athens. "Many of them had branches in Greece before the war, but with the outbreak of hostilities moved there on a semi-permanent basis. These companies are "acclimatizing" and have begun to hire more Greek and international staff," Lloyd's List notes.
Examples include Aquavita and BPG Shipping Company DMCC, which were initially managed from Odessa but had offices in Athens until 2022. "These and many other companies have no business with Russia, although, to the surprise of many, some Ukrainian charter operators continue to work with Russian cargo," the publication says.
Having studied the history of the development of this sector in Ukraine since the "wild west" of the 1990s, Lloyd's List notes that the newly established Odessa charter operators of the mid- and late 2000s brought positive changes to the market.
"Working professionally and competitively, some companies have achieved significant financial success. The principals of several Ukrainian charter operators have invested in their own tonnage in recent years, although their own fleet units are often managed quite separately from the group's operations with third-party tonnage," Lloyd's List writes.
"Meanwhile, other charter operators have moved into providing commercial and technical management services for third-party clients. More traditional ship ownership and management structures have also existed in Ukraine for several years, such as the 12-vessel fleet of the Intresco Group," the publication says.
"Charter operators and ship managers have expanded their scope and size. Perhaps most importantly, their reputations have improved, with many of these companies having proven themselves reliable partners over the years and continuing to operate despite the Russian invasion," the publication notes.
"Rogue elements remain, but for those who do their due diligence, even in times of war they will find world leaders among charter operators, ship managers, professional charterers in grain trading groups," Lloyd's List assures.
"At the peak of their development, Ukrainian operators simultaneously managed more than 500 vessels (including capesizes), making a significant contribution to global maritime transportation," commented Gennady Ivanov, director and co-founder of BPG Shipping.
Ivanov recalls how Phaeton, founded in 2009, where he managed chartering until 2017, simultaneously managed more than 120 vessels and transported 40 million tons of cargo annually.
"Ukraine, with its extensive experience and reliable reputation in commercial fleet management and a significant own cargo base, has enormous potential to become a strong player in the global shipping hierarchy," he says.
At the same time, Lloyd's List notes that by the end of the 1990s, "many managers had moved to the chartering departments of Ukrainian industrial manufacturers and grain traders." And during this war, two large Ukrainian grain trading groups (Kernel and Agroprosperis) decided to invest in their own tonnage, which is "a new development that many Ukrainian shipping observers consider an encouraging step towards the creation of a new large fleet for the country."
Last year, the CTS investigated why companies that previously only chartered fleets are starting to engage in a new type of activity for themselves and whether we can talk about a trend. At that time, we reported that a number of companies with different cargoes became shipowners - the BRSM group of companies purchased two barges, and then another vessel for transporting gas, CASPIT - two vessels for transporting fertilizers. And the Interpipe industrial group also took a vessel on time charter.
Under the current conditions of decreasingexport volumes and excess tonnage supply are unlikely to be willing to discuss further "creation of a new large fleet". And those players who, in conditions of tonnage deficit, became shipowners, subsequently began to sell the acquired vessels. For example, the same Kernel in 2023 purchased two bulk carriers and a tanker, and in 2024 sold one of the bulk carriers. Agromino agrocompany purchased a vessel, later sold it and bought another Handysize class. In any case, cargo owners remain shipowners for now.
"It is worth noting that the companies acquired the fleet after the Black Sea Grain Initiative expired. At that time, the world was worried that without an agreement with Russia, the transportation of Ukrainian cargo would become more dangerous. And it was difficult to find a fleet that would transport Ukrainian cargo. By making the first voyages, despite the risk of attacks from Russia, by purchasing ships, Ukrainian companies gave an important market signal," Yuriy Vaskov, former head of the USPA and twice deputy minister of infrastructure, commented on the CTS.
As for further prospects, Vaskov notes that sooner or later the Ukrainian government will have to comprehensively solve the problem of the attractiveness of the Ukrainian flag for shipowners. "So far, companies still prefer not Ukrainian registration, but foreign ones. They choose the flag of those countries for their fleets where the conditions are simpler and more favorable," he says.
"If we want the fleet under the Ukrainian flag to increase, we need to create the same conditions. That is why the industry has long proposed implementing a package of reforms for shipowners in Ukraine that would provide for market conditions existing in the world. This applies to ship registration, financial regulation, tax and customs policy. And that, in turn, would provide additional injections into the Ukrainian economy," Vaskov notes.
"But this issue cannot be resolved solely by the Ministry of Development; the will of the government, other departments, and the Verkhovna Rada is needed here. When we tried to convince others of the expediency of this step, we were told that, they say, then the state budget would not receive funds. Although, how can it not receive anything when we have almost zero private commercial fleet that performs international flights under the Ukrainian flag. If the conditions are not created, companies register vessels under a different flag, not under the Ukrainian one. Under the Ukrainian flag, there has always been a river fleet and a fleet that performed domestic transportation, there was a port fleet, but not the fleet that performs international transportation," he says.
However, in order for the Ukrainian maritime transport industry to be able not only to survive the war, but also to recover and reach a new qualitative level, other steps are also needed from the authorities.
"Investors and stakeholders in the shipping industry have a dilemma: is now the right time to cooperate with Ukraine or should they wait for more stable conditions," Kerem Sahinboy, an expert in international trade and logistics and founder of Asgard Transport & Logistics in Turkey, told CTS.
He cites Turkey as a negative example, where "the increasing politicization of its judiciary, which is used as a tool by the ruling party, has significantly undermined investor confidence." As a result, Turkey's position in the global foreign direct investment ranking has dropped sharply.
"Ukraine, currently struggling on several fronts, also faces the challenge of judicial reform. If Ukraine manages to build a transparent, depoliticized legal system, it will send a powerful signal to international shipping lines, port operators, logistics firms, etc. In the eyes of global investors, a reliable legal system can often outweigh even military or political turbulence. If a country cannot maintain an impartial and independent legal system, its attractiveness for foreign direct investment quickly deteriorates," he concluded.