Commercial vessels including vessels which are part of Black Sea grain deal wait to pass the Bosphorus strait off the shores of Yenikapi during a misty morning in Istanbul, Turkey, October 31, 2022. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
KYIV, Oct 4 (Reuters) – Ukraine’s navy said on Wednesday that 12 more cargo vessels were ready to enter a fledgling Black Sea shipping corridor on their way to Ukrainian ports, as Kyiv steps up a push to defy a de facto Russian blockade on its vital sea exports.
Russia, which has a much more powerful and bigger naval fleet in the Black Sea, pulled out of a deal in July that had allowed wartime Ukraine to safely ship food products out through what is traditionally its main export corridor.
Ukraine responded by setting up a temporary “humanitarian corridor” for cargo vessels, and several ships have departed from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports since.
“In total to enter the new corridor we have 12, and 10 to leave. That is as of now,” Navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk told an online media briefing on Wednesday.
Those figures appeared to indicate an increase in the amount of shipping traffic set to use the corridor, although Pletenchuk did not say when the vessels were expected to sail.
He said Ukraine’s defense forces were doing everything to ensure the safety of civilian ships in their territorial waters and that they were proceeding into the waters of Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey, all of which are NATO member countries.
At least seven new ships entered Ukrainian waters in the pas several days, and they were due to ship abroad at least 127,000 tons of Ukrainian-origin grain, local officials and lawmakers said.
However, Ukrainian grain exports have declined by 24% so far in the 2023/24 July-June season as the country’s major export routes were blocked.
The agriculture ministry’s data showed on Wednesday the grain exports have fallen to 6.82 million metric tons, from 8.99 million tons in the same period of 2022/23.
The data showed 153,000 tons of grain were exported in the first three days of October 2023, compared with 297,000 tons a year ago.
Traders and farmers associations have said that Ukrainian Black Sea ports being blocked and Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports on the Danube River were the main reasons for lower exports.
Ukraine has traditionally shipped most of its exports through its deep water Black Sea ports. Ukraine can also export limited volumes through small river ports on the Danube and via its western land border with the European Union.
Ukraine maritime exports totalled 2.4 million tons in September and 99% of the volume were covered by Danube ports, brokers said.
Ukraine is expected to harvest 79 million tons of grain and oilseed in 2023, with 2023/24 exportable surplus totals of about 50 million tons.
(Reporting by Olena Harmash and Pavel Polityuk; Writing by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Timothy Heritage, Alexander Smith and Alex Richardson)
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2023.
Join the gCaptain Club for curated content, insider opinions, and vibrant community discussions.
Join the 110,099 members that receive our newsletter.
Have a news tip? Let us know.
A rapidly intensifying weather system, known as a “bomb cyclone,” has developed off the U.S. West Coast, creating perilous conditions for mariners and coastal communities in the Pacific Northwest. The...
The long-awaited MV Glen Sannox, under construction at Scotland’s Ferguson Marine shipyard, has officially received regulatory approval to carry passengers. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) and Lloyd’s Register have issued...
New EU and British sanctions are based on false claims of missile transfers to Russia and are "unjustified," Iran Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Tuesday.
Access exclusive insights, engage in vibrant discussions, and gain perspectives from our CEO.
Sign Up
Maritime and offshore news trusted by our 110,099 members delivered daily straight to your inbox.
Essential news coupled with the finest maritime content sourced from across the globe.
Sign Up
Join The Club
