KYIV: Four ships carrying Ukrainian foodstuffs sailed from Ukrainian Black Sea ports on Sunday as part of a deal to unblock the country’s sea exports, Ukrainian and Turkish officials said.
The four bulk carriers were loaded with more than 160,000 tons of corn and other foodstuffs.
The resumption of grain exports is being overseen by a Joint Coordination Center (JCC) in Istanbul where Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish and UN personnel are working.
The United Nations and Turkey brokered the deal last month after UN warnings of possible outbreaks of famine in parts of the world due to a halt in grain shipments from Ukraine that had squeezed supplies and sent prices soaring.
Before the invasion, Russia and Ukraine together accounted for nearly a third of global wheat exports.
The JCC said late on Saturday it had authorized the departure of a total of five new vessels through the Black Sea corridor: four vessels outbound from Chornomorsk and Odesa carrying 161,084 metric tons of foodstuffs, and one inbound.
The ships that have left Ukrainian ports included Glory, with a cargo of 66,000 tons of corn bound for Istanbul, and Riva Wind, loaded with 44,000 tons of corn, heading for Turkey’s Iskenderun, the Turkish defense ministry said.
It said the other two vessels to have left Ukraine were Star Helena, with a cargo of 45,000 tons of meal heading to China, and Mustafa Necati, carrying 6,000 tons of sunflower oil and heading for Italy.
The first four ships left Ukraine last week under the agreement.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian embassy in Lebanon said the first grain ship that left Ukraine last week will not arrive in Lebanon on Sunday as planned.
The Razoni left Odesa on the Black Sea early last Monday carrying 26,527 tons of corn and was set to dock on Sunday in the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli, according to Ukrainian officials and Lebanese port authorities.
But the Ukrainian embassy in Lebanon said the ship was “having a delay” and “not arriving today,” with no details on a new arrival date or the cause of the postponement.
Shipping data on MarineTraffic.com showed the Razoni off the Turkish coast on Sunday morning.
Lebanon’s transport, agriculture and economy ministers told Reuters last week they did not know who was purchasing the grain aboard the Razoni.
