First Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Economy of Ukraine, Yulia Svyridenko, highlighted this achievement and noted the utilization of a ship insured against war risks under UNITY insurance for the first time in export operations.
The country is nearing its pre-war export levels, with January's exports just two million tons short of the January 2022 figure. Of the total exports, 8.7 million tons were transported by sea. The first ship under UNITY insurance, offering more affordable insurance rates at 0.75% of the vessel's value, embarked for loading at the ports of Greater Odesa last month.
Svyridenko emphasized the importance of normalizing the insurance market for trade, aiming not only to match pre-war export volumes but to increase revenue by enabling Ukrainian exporters to freely ship containers by sea. The recovery of the insurance market for maritime transportation is seen as crucial for this goal.
The Unity ship insurance program, implemented by the government in collaboration with Marsh McLennan and an insurance pool led by ASCOT, aims to lower insurance costs for maritime transport of grain and other critical food products within Ukraine's territorial waters. This initiative is expected to reduce the cost of grain insurance by an average of 2.5 percentage points and save grain traders approximately UAH 100-140 per ton of cargo, potentially benefiting agricultural producers with up to UAH 4 billion in savings.
Since the operation of the Ukrainian maritime corridor from the ports of Greater Odesa began six months ago, 661 vessels have exported over 20 million tons of cargo to 32 countries worldwide.
