GERMAN container shipping firm Hapag-Lloyd has resumed sea freight service to Ukraine, reports Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Hamburg.

The company has been offering feeder service through a third-party provider.

As part of this service, a smaller container ship primarily transports agricultural goods such as sunflower oil and grain.

The ship, with a capacity of 1,100 TEU, operates every five days between Constanta Romania, and the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Chornomorsk.

The Hapag-Lloyd spokeswoman emphasized that the company never stopped offering freight service to Ukraine, but had shifted to land routes following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the subsequent blockade of Ukraine's Black Sea ports.

The export of Ukrainian agricultural products was temporarily allowed under a UN and Turkey-brokered deal with Russia, which expired in the summer of 2023.