Following a successful inspection on Wednesday in Istanbul, the first grain ship to leave Ukraine and traverse the Black Sea as part of a wartime agreement sailed on to Lebanon. 17 additional vessels, according to Ukraine, were “laden and awaiting authorization to leave,” but it was unclear when they would be able to do so.
The Sierra Leone-flagged ship Razoni, which departed Odesa on Monday carrying Ukrainian corn, was inspected by a combined civilian inspection team for three hours.
As Russia’s war against its neighbor drags on, representatives from Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, and the United Nations inked agreements last month to establish secure Black Sea shipping lanes for exporting Ukraine’s vitally needed agricultural exports.
The war had prevented the majority of exports from Ukraine, a significant supplier of grains to the world, therefore the July 22 agreement aimed to improve food security everywhere. Global food prices have been skyrocketing in a situation that has been attributed to COVID-19, supply chain issues, and the war.
Although Razoni’s departure was described as a “major step” by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, no further ships have departed from Ukraine in the previous 48 hours, and no justifications have been provided for that delay.
Inspectors “gained significant information” regarding the Razoni’s journey through the Black Sea maritime humanitarian corridor, according to a U.N. statement, and the coordination center was “fine-tuning processes.”
An image of an inspector touching some of the 26,527 tons of corn for poultry feed in the Razoni’s hold was tweeted by the Turkish Ministry of National Defense. As the inspectors stepped off the ship, the Razoni’s horn blew, and it then sailed toward Lebanon.
The inspections check to make sure that entering ships are not carrying weapons and that leaving cargo ships are only transporting grain, fertilizer, or food—never any other goods.
Since the beginning of the six-month-old war, an estimated 20 million tons of grain have been trapped in Ukraine, with the majority of it reportedly being intended for animals. The top diplomat for Ukraine stated on Wednesday that additional ships are prepared to transport much-needed food and grain out of the country’s Black Sea.
“Further ships are already ready for departure. They will depart from the ports that are part of the grain initiative in accordance with the agreed schedule, and we hope that everything will work out and the Russian Federation will not take any steps that would destroy these agreements,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said at a joint press conference in Kyiv with his Estonian counterpart.
The U.N.-backed agreement, according to Kuleba, “benefits Ukrainian farmers, the Ukrainian economy, and the globe as a whole.”
Now, he continued, “Ukraine is essentially protecting the globe from additional increases in food costs and from hunger in other nations.”
A trip to the Black Sea is still fraught with danger due to the conflict. According to Bridget Diakun, a data reporter for the international shipping newspaper Lloyd’s List, two civilian ships struck explosive devices there last week close to the Bystre estuary of the Danube River.
Analysts claim that removing vessels that have been stranded for months at the three Ukrainian ports covered by the agreement is the authorities’ top priority. Since Russia’s invasion, sixteen grain-laden ships have become stranded at the ports of Odessa and Chernomorsk, according to Lloyd’s List.
There are still challenges to be addressed, according to the U.N. official who assisted in negotiating the Russian agreement with the U.N. that aims to ensure unlimited access to global markets for the nation’s food and fertilizer.
Rebeca Grynspan, the head of the United Nations’ trade department, said during a news conference that was broadcast live from Geneva on Wednesday that the United States and the European Union had clarified some of the issues that Russia has with financing, insurance, shipping, and transporting its grain and fertilizer.
To convince the private sector to accept that the U.N.-Russia deal will allow their enterprises to participate in having Russian food and fertilizer supplied to international markets without the prospect of sanctions, she claimed, remains a significant barrier.
Food and fertilizer exports are not subject to EU or US sanctions, but businesses involved in allied industries have been hesitant to participate.
According to Grynspan, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has “a chilling effect on the private sector.” “A significant portion of the private sector has therefore quit doing business in the food and fertilizer sectors.
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Some grain and fertilizer are shipped from Russia, according to Grynspan, secretary-general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, but at very high costs. She clarified that rising transport and logistics expenses account for 50% of the increase in grain prices.
“That is the pressure that we want to ease,” she said.
The business sector is evaluating the U.S. and EU clarifications, according to Grynspan, “as we speak.”
Stockpiles of grain are anticipated to increase further. Denys Shmyhal, the prime minister of Ukraine, predicted that despite the conflict, his nation could harvest up to 67 million tons of grain this year, an increase from 60 million tons the year before.
An influential Ukrainian farm association’s top leader estimated that Ukraine would have roughly 50 million tons of grain available for export this year.
Denys Marchuk, the deputy head of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council, claims that before to the conflict, Ukraine sold 5–6 million tons of grain each month.