The liberation of Snake (Zmiyinyi) Island from Russian invaders made it possible to use the Bystre estuary on the Danube River for navigation of merchant ships, which saves businesses at least $0.5 million per day, the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority (USPA) said on Tuesday.

"An additional window of opportunity will speed up the pace of grain carrier ships to the Danube ports. At the same time, we are working with our Romanian colleagues to make the logistics processes as fast and efficient as possible," Oleksiy Vostrikov, head of the USPA, said in the release.

He recalled that the team of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine announced a plan to almost double the transshipment of goods at the Danube ports – up to 25 million tonnes per year.

In turn, Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov, at a meeting in Warsaw, agreed to attract not only donor assistance, but also preferential loan instruments for businesses that are already investing in the development of Danube logistics, the USPA noted.