Several Romanian-flagged ships in the port of Reni today requested permission to return to Romanian territorial waters as a safety precaution following a drone attack last night. The authorities of Galats also freed up several berths so that, if necessary, they could receive ships heading to the Ukrainian port.

Although many may not yet realize, the war in Ukraine has come so close to Romania that it can almost be seen with the naked eye.

Port Reni, which was attacked by Russia last night with kamikaze drones, is located 13 kilometers from Galati. This comes at a time when traffic on the Danube is very congested at this time, after a large part of Ukrainian grain shipments moved to river ports as a result of Russian threats to attack grain ships leaving Odessa.

As a snapshot, around 2pm today, hours after the Russian attack on Reni and Ismail, the marine traffic monitoring app Marine Traffic showed 64 ships in Reni harbor with 29 more expected to arrive.

There were also 109 ships in the port of Izmail, and another 35 are expected.

A few kilometers up the Rhine, in the Romanian port of Galaţi, there were 75 ships and 17 more expected to arrive.

Of course, not all of these ships are ocean freighters or grain carriers, but we have a picture of heavy traffic on the Danube.

Screenshot via Marine Traffic. You can see the heavy shipping traffic around the ports of Izmail (left) and Reni and Galati (right).

How Romanian sailors and port management see the latest events

Vladu Branza, chief captain of the Galaţi Port Authority, told me that this morning six or seven Romanian-flagged ships in the port of Reni requested permission to move five nautical miles away from the port of Reni as a safety measure.

Practically speaking, the vessels concerned, which are inland rather than sea-going, wanted to re-enter Romanian territorial waters after the port of Reni was hit by kamikaze drones.

For their part, the river port administration in Galata told me that they have requested information from the port administration in Ukraine to see if they still have enough operational berths in the port of Reni.

• Read also: Romania’s first reaction after Russia’s attack on ports on the Danube bordering our country: “Serious risks for security in the Black Sea”

The same sources also explained to me that the Romanian side will release several berths in the port of Galati if the Ukrainians need help.

“At the moment, these are only precautionary measures, there are no traffic restrictions on the Danube or anything else,” relevant sources explained to me.

At the same time, however, things can develop in a very unpleasant direction.

As Bloomberg, cited by Agerpres, explains, currently the Danube ports are the only solution for Ukrainians to sell grain.

In May of this year, the volume of Ukrainian grain exports across the Danube reached 2.2 million tons, which is almost 900,000 tons more than at the end of last year.

These shipments exceeded Black Sea Corridor exports in May as inspections slowed the departure of vessels from the Black Sea.

On Monday, the price of wheat on the Chicago Stock Exchange rose by 5%, extending the increase of 5.4% registered during the previous week.

President Klaus Iohannis reacted and said today that: “This recent escalation poses serious risks to the security of the Black Sea.”

This time, serious risks also concern the Danube, on which hundreds of Romanian ships also sail every day. Or that go to Romanian ports.

• Read also: The war in Ukraine may enter a new phase.” Direct consequences of Russian attacks on Danube ports