A certain improvement is seen now in the passage of ships through the Kerch Strait / Photo from facebook.com/ULEADwithEurope
The daily downtime is estimated from $10,000 to $50,000 per vessel.
Ukraine's maritime transport sector estimates losses from Russia's illegal blockade of shipping in the Sea of Azov at the end of last year at about UAH 10 billion, or nearly US$357 million.
"This is a huge amount, the figure is now approaching the UAH 10 billion level if we take together state-owned enterprises, the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, and the impact on the region," Ukrainian Minister of Infrastructure Volodymyr Omelyan told UNIAN in an interview.
"We have always been serious about this since the beginning of the construction of the Kerch Bridge. We warned that this would be Putin's political tool to close the Kerch Strait and, accordingly, the Sea of Azov," Omelyan said.
According to him, a certain improvement is seen now in the situation with the passage of ships through the Kerch Strait, after vessels had been waiting in line for several days before.
The minister also said that shipowners had begun to redirect their freight to ports located in the Black Sea in order to avoid losses.
"We are now facing a different threat, and we also predicted it – after the said events, shipowners are reluctant to lease out their vessels for freight transportation, because they are aware of the risk of losses in case of possible vessel downtime. Therefore, it is much easier for them to work in the Black Sea with other ports than with the ports of Azov," the minister stressed.
As UNIAN reported with reference to Minister Omelyan, every fifth ship that was illegally stopped by Russia and had to wait for several days in the Sea of Azov is owned by European entities. Their daily downtime is estimated from $10,000 to $50,000 per vessel.
Ukraine, together with its international partners in the anti-Russian coalition, is preparing the so-called "Azov package" of sanctions in response to Russia's illegal aggression in the waters of the Sea of Azov and in the Kerch Strait.