The port that could have changed history: unfulfilled hopes of Kilia

Since Ottoman times, Kylia has been an important port, supplying Porto with fish, grain, and slaves. In the mid-17th century, up to 6,500 Greeks, Moldovans, Ukrainians, Turks, and Tatars lived here. Daily fairs were held in Kilia. There were 500 craft shops, a caravanserai, a bazaar, and a slave market.

The city conducted active trade with Istanbul, Bursa, Hyrsovo, Isakchia, Babadag, and the Anatolian cities of the sultanate. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Kilia, as part of the "new Moldovan road," connected Ottoman Dobrogea, Hungary, Poland, and Transylvania. To improve the trade infrastructure, the Ottomans built lighthouses at the entrance to the Danube, one of which was destroyed during the Russo-Turkish War of 1806-1812. The city suffered from a demographic and economic crisis: almost the entire Islamic population was deported, and the imperial authorities began rebuilding Kilia from scratch.

Imperial logisticians focused on building shipping channels and increasing the port's cargo turnover. At the same time, there were opponents of the port's revival in the person of Finance Minister Yegor Kankrin, who tried to save money on everything. He saw the development of the Danube ports as competitors for Odesa, which constantly needed extra spending.

In 1830, the capital's newspaper Severnaya Pchela believed that "the commercial benefit from the accession of the Danube estuary to the Russian Empire will be exclusively from fishing and fish trade." It was only in 1832 that Kankrin addressed the mayor of Izmail, Lieutenant General Serhiy Tuchkov, with an order to "deliver... as soon as possible and in as much detail as possible information about the islands created by the various branches of the Danube that were annexed by the last Andrianopil Treaty, in order to properly consider what benefits can be derived from them."

Yegor Kankrin. Image: Image.

Proposals to improve navigation on the Danube have been periodically made by local government officials. In particular, a project to clear the Danube estuary was proposed in 1827, but it was postponed "due to the outbreak of war with the Turks."

Further projects to improve Danube trade were associated with the figure of Izmail mayor Serhii Tuchkov. He noted that "it is convenient to sell products to Wallachia, Moldavia Prut and neighboring provinces through the Danube ports." The official paid special attention to the clearing of the Kiliya and Sulinskoye mouths of the Danube, which were under his control.

In particular, according to Tuchkov, the shallow waters of the Kiliya estuary "have such shoals that only small flat-bottomed vessels can pass through", and "large vessels that lift 150 to 200 flippers (an ancient unit of volume measurement - ed.) cannot pass through the Sulina estuary without overloading, and this overloading costs merchants 70 to 200 rubles in addition to the loss of time. Expenditures made by the government to clear one of these arms and even to keep a steam engine there permanently may benefit the treasury in the future."

Tuchkov even proposed granting duty-free port-franco trade to all Danube ports. But Friedrich Palen rejected this plan. He was afraid that the "former Ottoman ports of Budzhak" would create serious competition for the "creation of Catherine II," Odesa, which would not be able to fully exist as a port. For this reason, subsequent measures to improve the trade infrastructure of Kiliya were inconsistent and temporary, given the interests of Odesa's merchants.

Serhiy Oleksandrovych Tuchkov, Image: Image.

In 1833, the Ministry of Finance, citing a lack of funds, denied the urgent need to realize the prospects of steamship traffic in the lower Danube region: "steamships are completely unnecessary, especially after the establishment of the Black Sea Steamship Company."

The absence of active shipping in Vilkovo was due to its unfavorable geographical location in the shallow section of the Kiliya mouth of the Danube. To enter the port of Vilkovo, ships had to make a detour through the Sulinskoye estuary, which significantly complicated logistics. As a result, there was virtually no transit trade through Vilkovo: the port was used exclusively for the delivery of goods intended for domestic consumption by the local population. It is worth noting that Vilkovo was the only port in the Danube Delta that was under the monopoly control of Russian shipping companies. In this regard, the bulk of the Eastern Danube region's export trade was directed to the port of Kilia. However, this port was not important as a major trade center in its own right: it mainly served as a support function, servicing ships that could not load in the more developed ports of Izmail and Reni.

The main role of Kilia was to maintain the Kilia Canal as a strategic waterway, as well as to organize customs and quarantine control on the islands of Bazarchuk and Zmeinyi.

Kilia. 1829. Image: ziuaconstanta

In 1832, Novorossiysk Governor-General Mikhail Vorontsov allocated funding for the maintenance of an experienced pilot on the Danube to safely guide merchant ships through the passage at the Sulinskoye Estuary.

The first pilot in this area was an Austrian subject, Josef Musich. However, already in October 1836, on Vorontsov's initiative, quarantine institutions were transferred from Bazarchuk Island to Sulina, which showed a change in emphasis in the development of the Danube infrastructure.

The issue of ensuring navigational safety in the Danube Delta, in particular the need to build a lighthouse on Zmeinyi Island, was raised as early as 1834 by the Dutch Vice Consul in Odesa, Eduard Tetbouw de Marigny. In a special note to Vorontsov on the organization of the lighthouse system, he emphasized the strategic importance of this route: "All ships go through this place to the Odesa Strait. Therefore, it is important to inform them about the threat of storms and unfavorable winds... There are anchorages on four sides that will allow ships to moor in case of unfavorable easterly winds that prevent them from entering the Sulinska mouth of the Danube."

The project of the lighthouse, later known as the Fidonisii Lighthouse (the old name of the Snake Lighthouse - ed.), was designed by Mykolaiv architect Karl Ackroyd. The construction lasted from 1837 to 1843. Thanks to 16 lanterns, the lighthouse's light was visible at a distance of 20.5 nautical miles, which greatly facilitated navigation both in the direction of Odesa and to the port of Kilia.

In 1846, regular passenger transportation was launched on the Danube by the Peter the Great steamship of the Novorossiysk Shipping Company, which ran the route Odesa-Ismail-ReniGalats-Sulina. Kilia was not included in this route, which indicates the secondary importance that the port was given in the overall transportation and economic system.

Further development of the situation around the port of Reni was influenced by Romania's active actions on the Danube. When the region was under Romanian rule, the main focus was on reorienting cargo to Galati and building the Sulina Canal.

In 1857, a decision was made to deepen the Sulina estuary to 21-23 feet. Between 1856 and 1912, the European Danube Commission (England, France, Austria-Hungary, Bavaria, and Turkey) and Romania allocated 74 million francs for its deepening. These measures led to an increase in cargo turnover through the Sulina from 2.5 million in 1856 to 7 million tons in 1880. Since Russia did not participate in the development of the Sulinsky route, a duty of 1.5-2.5 kopecks per pood of cargo was imposed on its steamers. All in all, in 1881-1908, Russian shipowners paid Romania 65 million francs for the use of the Sulinsky route.

To preserve their own shipping, Russian merchants in 1882 raised the issue of exploiting the Ochakiv arm of the Kilia estuary. Its development would have exempted Russian ships from paying Romanian duties when passing the Sulia estuary and from an additional 100 kilometers of travel. According to representatives of the Russian Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Sulina estuary was "the only convenient access to the sea along the Danube, so there is no need to deepen the Kilia estuary."

Port of Kilia in the late nineteenth century: Image.

Significant changes in the hydraulic situation on the Danube occurred in 1902, when the Romanian government, implementing a project by English engineer Alex Rummel, built the so-called Izmail Chatala. The main purpose of this construction was to reorient water flows from the Kilia to the Sulina estuary in order to concentrate the shipping infrastructure in Romania.

Such actions by the Romanian side were a direct violation of the terms of the 1882 international treaty on navigation on the Danube. In response, in 1904, the Russian Empire had the hydraulic structure dismantled. However, the engineering interventions carried out up to that point had caused a potential threat of siltation of the Sulia estuary over the next 20-50 years. In this regard, the authorities were forced to start implementing their own project of a navigable canal in the Kilia estuary.

In 1909, a special government department for deepening the Danube was established to carry out the relevant work. Already in 1913, large-scale dredging works began near Kilia, during which 76 thousand cubic meters of soil were removed. However, with the outbreak of the First World War, all engineering and hydraulic projects on the Danube were curtailed. It can be stated that the Russian Empire was defeated in the struggle for control of the Danube shipping lanes, which significantly affected the decline of the port infrastructure of Kilia.

The intensive development of port infrastructure in Kilia began with a significant delay. It was only on July 3, 1881, that the government adopted a resolution "On Scheduled Shipping on the Odesa-ReniKilia-Ismail Line," which formally laid the foundation for the development of regular shipping services to Kilia. In 1896, the port built a 100-meter-long embankment, which served as a loading area for small steamers. However, no large-scale measures were taken to modernize or expand the port.

As a result, the growth of exports from the region was not driven by improved logistics infrastructure, but mainly by increased crop yields in the surrounding villages and the development of fishing.

As early as 1815, Pavlo Svinyin noted that "the population of Vilkovo and Kilia is mostly engaged in fishing, which they sell to the Moldovan port of Galati."

The port of Kiliya in the early twentieth century: Kiliya.info

In the second half of the nineteenth century, the economy of the Danube region underwent a distinct reorientation towards grain exports, which was driven by the growing demand for food in European markets. However, the trade turnover of the port of Kilia remained largely dependent on the hydrological regime of the Danube.

During periods of insufficient depth of the Kilia arm, grain transportation was complicated, with cargo being routed through the Sulia estuary, which led to longer logistics routes and higher costs. The main source of grain supply to Kilia was the farms of the Akkerman district, from where the products were partially shipped to Odesa and the rest to the port of Galats.

In the early twentieth century, Kilia began to outpace other Danube ports in terms of grain exports. Thus, in 1901, the port exported more than 4,700 thousand poods of grain, which exceeded the figures for Izmail and Reni (3.4 million poods each). In 1903, exports from Kilia increased to 7,132 thousand poods. At the same time, in 1904, export volumes dropped to 1,706 thousand poods, which was due to a sharp rise in the domestic price of barley. This, in turn, led to a reduction in demand from major trading partners, including Romania and Germany.

After the partial stabilization of global barley prices, export volumes began to grow, not falling below the 3 million poods mark. The export of grain crops reached its peak in 1911, when 9,631 thousand poods were shipped from the port.

At the end of the nineteenth century, there was a shift in the emphasis of exports to barley and corn, the share of which increased significantly compared to other crops. In particular, in 1886, the volume of grain exports from the port of Kiel amounted to 156,170 quarters, of which wheat accounted for only 1.2%, rye for 23.4%, barley for 48.8%, and corn for 26.6%.

In the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, export trade in bread and other agricultural products from the territory of Bessarabia, in particular through the port of Kilia, was carried out mainly on the basis of so-called CIF contracts (cost, insurance, freight), standardized in 1858. Under these terms, the responsibility for transportation, insurance and quality of the goods remained with the exporter, who was obliged to ensure that the cargo was delivered in accordance with the buyer's requirements.

Much of the trade, including grain sales to the United Kingdom, was carried out under the terms of the London Corn Trade Association contracts, which provided for fines and confiscation of goods in case of breach of contractual obligations.

Since disputes were resolved in the arbitration courts of the importing countries, decisions were usually made in favor of national counterparties, which put exporters from the Russian Empire at a legal disadvantage. In fact, export activities in the port of Kilia were controlled by foreign capital. The key monopolists were the English company Morton and the French company Messager, and all corn exports from the Danube ports were controlled by the Antwerp-based company Arthur de la Trémérie.

Foreign monopolization of trade and intermediary activities had a negative impact on the situation of local peasants. In May 1908, peasants from the village of Goteshty in Izmail district reported to the governor of Bessarabia, Oleksii Kharuzin, that grain was being sold to dealers at unprofitable prices. Similar complaints were received from villagers in Baurchi Moldovan, who noted that the purchase of grain by foreign traders "undermines our economy and leads to ruin."

The price imbalance between the domestic and foreign markets was striking: in 1897, a pood of wheat in Bessarabia cost 78 kopecks, while in Marseilles it cost 1 ruble 11 kopecks. The price of barley was 33 kopecks in Bessarabia and 67 kopecks in France, respectively. In 1906, agricultural products of local producers were sold 30-40% cheaper than the market value, and in the village of Leovo the cost of a loaf of bread was 15 kopecks lower than in Odesa.

In other words, Kilia did not receive significant income from grain exports. The city's population remained relatively stable, but low, which hindered economic development and led to the preservation of the provincial status of the settlement.

Андрій Шевченко