2 yıl önce

Turkish-flagged ship carrying Ukrainian grain arrives in northern Türkiye

The POLARNET vessel, which got security clearance from a team at the Istanbul-based Joint Coordination Centre, is expected to offload its cargo later in the day.

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More than 305,000 tons of grain were safely shipped from Ukrainian ports through 10 commercial vessels in one week as part of a recent grain export deal brokered by Türkiye.

A Turkish-flagged ship carrying 12,000 tonnes of corn has arrived at a port in northern Türkiye.

The Polarnet docked at Derince port, its final destination, on Monday, three days after setting off from Ukraine’s Chornomorsk.

“The 1st POLARNET arrived at the port of Türkiye! Others ships will arrive at the ports of destination in the coming days,” Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraine’s infrastructure minister, said on Twitter.

He hailed it is a “positive market signal” for the world and a “perfect example” of how the Black Sea grain initiative works due to the support of the UN and Türkiye.

On July 22, Türkiye, the UN, Russia and Ukraine signed a deal in Istanbul to reopen three Ukrainian Black Sea ports — Odessa, Chornomorsk, and Yuzhny — for the export of Ukrainian grain stuck due to the war with Russia, now in its sixth month.

To oversee the process, the Joint Coordination Centre in Istanbul was officially launched on July 27, comprising representatives from the three countries and the UN to enable safe transportation of commercial foodstuffs and fertilisers by merchant ships.

TRT World’s Melinda Nucifora explains how operations at Ukrainian ports are being conducted before ships loaded with grain sail reach international markets under a historic deal brokered by Türkiye pic.twitter.com/nlVejSnJM2
— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) August 8, 2022

Over 304,000 tonnes of grain

In line with the grain corridor deal, the Sierra Leone-flagged dry cargo ship Razoni, carrying 27,000 tonnes of corn to Lebanon, became the first ship to leave Ukraine's Odessa port on August 1.

Since Razoni's departure, 10 ships carrying over 304,000 tonnes of grain have so far left Ukrainian ports under the deal, which many believe is helping ease a growing global food crisis.

Under the Türkiye-brokered deal, four ships carrying a total of 170,458 tonnes of corn are planned to reach Turkish ports. The destinations of the other six ships are Italy, China, Ireland, England, and Lebanon.

The Panama-flagged Navi-Star ship carrying 33,000 tonnes of corn from Ukraine to Ireland and the Maltese-flagged Rojen carrying 13,000 tonnes of corn to the UK set sail on August 5.

The Barbados-flagged Fulmar S, which left the Bandirma port on August 5, arrived at the Chornomorsk port in Odessa on August 7. Fulmar S became the first ship to arrive in Ukrainian ports to receive cargo.

The empty Liberian-flagged ship Osprey S also left for Chornomorsk port to collect grain after the inspections in Istanbul on Sunday.