The vessel carrying 12,000 tons of corn reaches Turkey
© AFP / Yasin AKGUL
The Turkish dry-cargo ship Polarnet carrying grain from Ukraine moored at the port of Derince near Istanbul on Monday, Turkey’s TRT TV channel has reported. The vessel was the first to leave Ukraine under a deal by Moscow and Kiev to unblock grain supplies.
The Polarnet, which is laden with 12,000 tons of corn, set off from the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Chernomorsk on August 5. After a paperwork audit, the grain will be unloaded from the ship and placed on trucks for delivery to its destinations.
Representatives of the joint grain export coordination center in Istanbul inspected the vessel, after which it was allowed to pass through the Bosphorus Strait to port. The Polarnet was expected to arrive in Derince on Sunday but was postponed due to poor weather.
A total of 10 ships – eight outbound and two headed to Ukraine – have now been authorized to sail under the grain deal reached between Ukraine and Russia, which was brokered by Turkey and the UN.
According to the AP, citing the website MarineTraffic, the first ship to depart Ukraine, the Sierra Leone-flagged Razoni, which left on August 1, still hasn’t reached its destination in Lebanon and was anchored off of Turkey’s southern coast on Sunday evening.
Meanwhile, the Turkish Defense Ministry has announced that two more ships, carrying corn and soybeans, departed Ukraine’s Black Sea ports on Monday.
The Sacura left Yuzhny Port carrying 11,000 tons of soybeans to Italy, while the Arizona left Chernomorsk with 48,458 tons of corn bound for the Turkish city of Iskenderun.
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Four ships that left Ukraine on Sunday are expected to anchor near Istanbul on Monday evening, the Turkish Defense Ministry stated. They are due to be inspected on Tuesday.
In late July, Moscow and Kiev agreed in Istanbul on a deal allowing the resumption of exports from Ukrainian ports. The agreement also includes shipments of Russia’s grain, as well as fertilizers and the raw materials to produce them. Under the arrangement, ships en route to or from Ukraine are inspected by officials from the three countries and the UN to prevent weapons being smuggled in or out of the conflict zone.
Ukrainian grain exports were suspended after Russia launched its military operation in the country in February, leading to growing concerns over global food supplies. Kiev accused the Russian forces of barring civilian ships from leaving the ports, while Moscow accused Ukraine of mining the waters near its harbors, which prevented maritime traffic.
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