Ukraine’s new shipping corridor is gaining traction. Following last week’s sailing from Black Sea ports of two ships carrying grain bound for international markets, another three bulk carriers have arrived in Ukraine ready to take on a combined 130,000 tons of grain and iron ore.
Further ships are ready to make the voyage to the northwest of the Black Sea, with the dry bulk community watching closely for signs of a new insurance package to cover the trips to the war-torn nation. Insurer Marsh is expected to reveal details of a new insurance coverage, backed by the Ukrainian government, as early as this week as the war with Russia enters its 20th month and with no sign of a United Nations-backed shipping pact being revived.
Giving details of the new shipping corridor, law firm Campbell Johnston Clark (CJC) wrote in a weekly update: “Under this new route, ships sail close to Romanian and Ukrainian shores, passing Chornomorsk to meet a Ukrainian pilot boat off Odesa.”
Kyiv has already used this new corridor since August to release five vessels trapped in Ukraine when the war began, including one containership and four bulkers.
“The changing military dynamics in the Black Sea, with Ukraine hitting military installations and naval assets in Crimea, and regaining control of abandoned offshore gas and oil rigs, have also contributed to Ukraine’s push to expedite grain exports by sea,” CJC noted.
When Russia backed out of the UN-backed Black Sea Grain Initiative in mid-July Ukraine was forced to shift much more of its exports via the Danube and route shipments via the very busy Romanian port of Constanta. The port is groaning under the extra traffic, working well above its design capacity.
On Friday morning Genco Columbia came into contact with another bulk carrier, R Skywalker, which was at anchorage outside the busy port. Both ships remain at anchor this morning.
Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said at a press conference over the weekend that the latest UN proposals to revive the Black Sea Grain Initiative were “simply not realistic”.
Russian forces launched an aerial attack on the Black Sea port of Odesa in the early hours of Monday, Ukraine’s air force and local officials said. Granaries were destroyed and the city’s port was “significantly damaged” in the drone and missile attack, according to Ukraine’s southern command.
The barrage came after Ukraine struck the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in Crimea on Friday.
