LAST UPDATE | 5 Aug 2022

THREE MORE SHIPS loaded with grain have sailed from Ukraine under a UN-backed deal lifting Russia’s blockade of the Black Sea, Turkey’s defence ministry said.

The Panama-flagged Navistar left Odessa for Ireland with 33,000 tonnes of grain.

R&H Hall, an Irish grain and feed company has said it will receive its 33,000 tonnes of cargo from the Navistar  in Foynes and Dublin Ports on its arrival.

“The recommencement of sailings from the Black Sea of vessels such as the Navi Star is the first step in returning some degree of certainty to the global food supply chain in what remains a volatile situation,” the company said.

“We look forward to the Navi Star arriving at port in approximately two weeks.2

Two ships left the port of Chornomorsk – the Malta-flagged Rojen headed to Britain with 13,000 tonnes of grain, and the Turkish-flagged Polarnet sailed towards Turkey with 12,000 tonnes of grain.

An empty Barbados-flagged ship, the Fulmar, was headed to the port of Chornomorsk to be loaded with grain, it said.

Moscow and Kyiv agreed in Istanbul last month to resume shipments of wheat and other grain from Ukrainian ports for the first time since Russia invaded its the country in February.

The first ship, loaded with 26,000 tonnes of maize, set off from Odessa on Monday for the Lebanese port of Tripoli.

The Sierra Leone-flagged Razoni was cleared for passage through the Bosphorus Strait by a team that included Russian and Ukrainian inspectors on Wednesday.

The ship’s passage is being overseen by an international team that includes officials from Turkey, the United Nations and the two warring parties.

The team said in a statement the first ship’s successful passage offered “proof of concept” that the agreement can hold.

Russia and Ukraine are major suppliers of wheat and other grain.

The halt of almost all deliveries from Ukraine has sent global food prices soaring, making imports prohibitively expensive for some of the world’s poorest nations.

While tens of thousands of tonnes of grains are now making their way out with these latest shipments, it is still a fraction of the 20 million tonne of grains which Ukraine says are trapped in the country’s silos and ports, and which must be shipped out in order to make space for the new harvest.

- © AFP 2022 with additional reporting by Michelle Hennessy.