Two more grain-carrying ships have sailed from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports on Monday, adding to four which departed on Sunday and another four earlier last week.
Moreover, the first cargo vessel since the Russian invasion arrived at the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Chornomorsk on Sunday to shift much needed grains out of the country. Loading of the 14,415 dwt Fulmar S is ongoing today. Further ships are lined up to call in Ukraine soon.
Last month Ukraine and Russia reached a deal to establish safe shipping routes for Ukrainian grain exports from three ports for a period of 120 days. As per the details of the Black Sea Grain Initiative ships are inspected in Istanbul.
Ukraine urgently needs to shift 20m tonnes of last year’s harvest before this year’s crop comes to its cramped silos and docks.
“The success of the initial shipments may provide momentum for the process to accelerate,” chartering platform Shipfix stated today. “Still, with average cargo order sizes remaining around 20,000 tonnes, according to Shipfix order data, approximately one thousand voyages will be required unless larger vessels become involved in the trade.”
With grain vessels now moving in both directions, Kyiv has called for the shipping pact to be extended to other goods such as iron ore.
