Ukraine Resumes Ferry Services to Georgia's Black Sea Port of Batumi

Ukrainian ferry company Ukrferry will resume services between the Black Sea port of Chornomorsk and Batumi in Georgia, according to the company's timetable.

The ferry service was halted after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Its resumption will allow Kyiv to gain direct access to its markets in the Caucasus and Central Asia.

The first voyage is scheduled to depart Chornomorsk on July 9 and arrive in Georgia on July 12.

"Regular services accept passengers... trucks, cars, railcars loaded with conventional, dangerous or oversized cargo, caterpillar type vehicles, palletized and non-palletized deck cargo," the company said.

The route map published by the company shows that the ferry will widely bypass the Russian-occupied Ukrainian Crimea peninsula.

Ukraine opened a corridor towards the western Black Sea last year after Ukrainian forces managed to drive Russian military ships away from there by attacking them with sea drones.

The corridor has allowed Ukraine to increase its grain and metals exports.

(Reuters - Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)