Ukrainian grain is ready for export, but shipping companies have not yet

First modification: 07/27/2022 – 18:50

Russia and Ukraine began this Wednesday, July 27, to execute the grain export agreement sealed in Turkey five days ago, despite the fighting in eastern Ukraine. First of all, three Ukrainian Black Sea ports, designated for grain exports, have “resumed work” on preparation prior to the first shipment.

However, shipping companies do not want to rush into exporting millions of tons of grain trapped in Ukraine, despite the agreement signed to provide safe corridors through the Black Sea.

The reason is that the explosive mines are drifting in the waters and the risks are assessed. In addition, there are still doubts about how the agreement will be developed and the security that the caravans will have.

“Can we be safe and ensure the safety of the crews? What is going to happen with mines and minefields? So there is a lot of uncertainty and unknowns right now,” said Guy Platten, secretary general of the International Chamber of Shipping. , which claims to represent about 80% of the world’s merchant fleet.

In the midst of this caution, those that resume operations, according to the preparation plan for the first ships, are the ports of Odessa, Pivdennyi and Chornomorsk, although there is still no exact date for the start of exports.

“Cereal shipments benefit both Russia and Ukraine. We can expect the first ships to leave in the next two weeks. That depends a bit on how prepared the countries are,” government spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Wednesday. .

The agreement, which has triggered a slow and careful start, is valid for 120 days and will be renewed automatically, if no country indicates otherwise. The clock started ticking last week.

Ship safety in the midst of war

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian navy specified that “the departure and entry of ships to seaports will be done by forming a convoy that will accompany the lead ship.”

Despite the announcement of this agreement and a few hours after it was signed on Friday, July 22, Russian missiles hit the port of Odessa, one of those included in the agreement. And since Saturday several attacks have followed on this commercial port.

The fighting has been denounced by kyiv and the international community as Russia’s attempts to undermine that commitment that aims to alleviate the world food crisis precipitated by the lack of Ukrainian grain.

However, Ukraine has maintained the plan to unblock these shipments, which must be controlled and supervised by Turkey, as guarantor of the agreement, together with the UN, and which Russia and Ukraine signed separately in Istanbul.

The objective is to transport to international markets between 22 and 25 million tons of wheat, corn and other cereals that remain blocked in the silos of these three ports due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and that are scarce in world markets.

Turkey inaugurates the JCC and prepares for the first shipment of grain from Ukraine

While the ports “resume work”, the Joint Coordination Center (JCC) was inaugurated in Istanbul this Wednesday, in charge of coordinating Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea.

Under these agreements, the CCC will be responsible for carrying out inspections of ships leaving and arriving in Istanbul to ensure that they will only be carrying grain.

The center operates at the Istanbul Defense University and will be run by “five representatives from Russia, Ukraine and the UN, as well as from Turkey, both military and civilian,” Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said at a short opening ceremony. opening.

“Those who work here know that the eyes of the world are on them,” added the minister, who stressed that “there will be no military in the field (of maritime operations). Merchant ships will be registered from the center and monitoring of their movements, under the coordination of the United Nations and the party countries,” said Akar.

“If the need to clear (the sea) of mines is observed, it would be done in a coordinated manner. But for now, the need to clear mines in the Black Sea is not foreseen,” the official pointed out, a response that adds uncertainty to the shipping companies.

Ukraine and Russia are the world’s main suppliers of wheat, barley, corn and sunflower oil, activity stopped by the fighting in the Black Sea region.

On August 5, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who maintains a neutral position in the conflict, will meet with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in the Russian city of Sochi, and one of the main topics is expected to be Ukraine grain export agreement.

With AP, AFP and EFE