Two more blocked ships leave port of Odesa after grain deal termination
Photo: facebook. Ministry.for.restoration
Two more blocked ships left the Port of Pivdennyi in the southern Odesa region. So far, four vessels have managed to leave Ukrainian ports since Russia pulled out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, brokered by Türkiye and the UN in July 2022 to open food exports from Ukraine by sea and combat a global food crisis.
They are heading toward the Bosphorus along a temporary corridor Ukraine created for civilian vessels to safely leave ports blocked by Russian forces, Rubryka reports, citing Ukraine's Ministry of Community Development, Territories, and Infrastructure.
The bulk carriers ANNA-THERESA (Liberia flag) and OCEAN COURTESY (Marshall Islands) left Port Pivdennyi and are moving along the established corridor towards the Bosphorus with 56,000 tons of cast iron and 172,000 tons of iron ore concentrate on board.
Photo: facebook. Ministry.for.restoration
The statement mentions that both bulkers are operated by a Singapore shipping company and were in the Pivdennyi port before Russia started the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, entirely blocking the Black Sea ports for trade and safe passage. The bulk carrier ANNA-THERESA was in port from February 22, 2022, and OCEAN COURTESY from February 16, 2022.
Background
In a letter to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres offered "a set of concrete proposals" to restore the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
"We have some concrete solutions for the concerns allowing for a more effective access of Russian food and fertilizers to global markets at adequate prices," the statement reads. "We cannot have a Black Sea Initiative that moves from crisis to crisis, from suspension to suspension. We need to have something that works, and that works to the benefit of everybody."
According to Guterres, it is "extremely important to renew" the grain agreement because it "has given a very important contribution to make the food markets more adequate to the UN objectives of food security," such as bringing down prices and creating "conditions for access to the global markets of many countries, namely the developing world."
According to the UN Secretary-General, the organization "took into concern the Russian requests." In his opinion, the UN "presented a proposal that could be the basis for a renewal, but a renewal that must be stable."
In July, Russia announced that it was withdrawing from the grain agreement due to parties allegedly not fulfilling its terms. After that, the Russian occupiers began massively attacking Ukrainian ports and grain infrastructure in the south of Ukraine with rockets and drones.
In August, Ukraine announced the opening of temporary corridors for merchant vessels in the Black Sea. The Navy of Ukraine warned that the threat from the Russian Federation remains. The routes are primarily intended for civilian ships that have been in the Ukrainian ports of Chornomorsk, Odesa, and Pivdennyi since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia.
On August 16, the first ship left the port of Odesa after the grain agreement was terminated, and on August 26, another safely left the blocked port.
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