Ukrainian privately-owned vessel operator UkrFerry Shipping Company will resume operating on routes between Ukraine and Georgia this July 9. These will be UkrFerry's first operational sailings transporting passengers and vehicles to Georgia following the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022.
The company itself resumed service in July of last year when the ferry Vilnius began serving the route between Georgia and Romania. UkrFerry's re-started Ukraine-Georgia route will initially be served by the 25,000GT ferry Kaunas (pictured).
This will be the latest shipping route to be re-opened in Ukraine since the start of the ongoing hostilities with Russia. Hapag-Lloyd had earlier resumed providing feeder services between Chernomorsk and Constanta in Romania in April of this year while MSC will re-launch a feeder service with departures from Odessa to commence before the end of this month.
The re-opening of the shipping routes between Ukraine and its neighbours is in fulfillment of a government initiative seeking to facilitate foreign trade, which slowed down as a result of the conflict with Russia. Negotiations are also underway between Ukrainian seaport officials and their counterparts in Azerbaijan regarding the resumption of ferry voyages to and from the latter country's capital of Baku via the Caspian Sea.