Three more ships with grain depart Ukrainian ports

This is only a fraction of the 20 million tons trapped in the country’s silos and ports

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Photo: AP

By Agencies

Published: Fri 5 Aug 2022, 11:58 AM

Three more grain-carrying ships have departed Ukrainian ports, and are headed to Turkey for inspection, Turkey's Defence Ministry said on Friday.

The three ships are loaded with a total of 58,000 tonnes of corn.

The Panama-flagged Navistar left Odessa for Ireland with 33,000 tonnes of grain, while two ships left the port of Chornomorsk-- the Malta-flagged Rojen, headed to Britain with 12,000 tonnes of grain, and the Turkish-flagged Polarnet, sailing towards Turkey with 12,000 tonnes of grain.

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The departure of the ships comes after the first grain ship since the start of the war left Ukraine earlier this week. It crossed the Black Sea under a wartime deal, passed inspection in Istanbul (on Wednesday), and then headed on to Lebanon.

Ukraine is one of the world's main breadbaskets, and the stocks of grain trapped were exacerbating a sharp rise of food prices and raising fears of a global hunger crisis.

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.

The ships that departed from Ukraine on Friday are from among over a dozen bulk carriers and cargo ships that had been loaded with grain and stuck at the ports there since the start of the war in late February.

While tens of thousands of tons of grains are now making their way out with these latest shipments, it’s still a fraction of the 20 million tons 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.

Photo: AP

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Agencies

Published: Fri 5 Aug 2022, 11:58 AM

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