The recently established corridor in the Black Sea, which serves as an alternative route for agricultural exports, has seen five additional ships on its voyage to Ukrainian sea ports.
Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov stated on the X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter: “five new vessels are waiting to be loaded in Ukrainian ports.”
“Bulk carriers Olga, Ida, Danny Boy, Forza Doria, New Legacy are going to export almost 120,000 (metric) tonnes of Ukrainian grain to Africa and Europe,” he continued.
Kubrakov also mentioned that three bulk carriers carrying grain and iron ore left the Ports of Chornomorsk and Pivdenniy.
“Bulk carriers Azara, Ying Hao 01, Eneida… is using temporary corridor established by the Ukrainian Navy exported 127K tonnes of agroproducts and iron ore.”
The three carriers are the most recent ships to voyage across Ukraine’s temporary “humanitarian corridor” that was established by Kyiv as an alternative to the corridor provided by the Black Sea Grain deal before Russia backed out of the deal, Reuters reported.
The first ship to traverse this route was the Hong Kong-flagged Joseph Schulte, which had been docked at the port since the day before breakout of war with Russia.
Following this voyage, another two ships left a Ukrainian Black Sea port carrying grain this September , known as ‘The Aroyat’ and the ‘Resilient Africa’.
READ: Ukraine close to securing Black Sea transport
Ukraine, one of the world’s biggest suppliers of grain, had its Black Sea ports cut off by Russia following the onset of their conflict with Ukraine.
Moscow claimed that the blockade served the purpose of preventing Ukraine from transporting weapons across ports, meanwhile Kyiv and it western supporters brandished the measure as an attempt to leverage global food supplies.
Nevertheless, this deal collapsed in the summer of 2023, with Russia reinstating the blockade as they felt their demands were being disregarded.
READ: Ukraine close to securing Black Sea transport
Following the deals collapse, a number of state-sanctioned attacks have taken place. In early August of this summer, Russian drones hit Ukraine’s main inland port and grain silo across the river Danube in the southern Odesa region, sparking increases in global food prices.
The strikes caused significant damage to the buildings at the Port of Izmail, leading to the suspension of the port’s operations.
Additional warning strikes, sanctioned by Moscow, were launched at cargo vessels, leading to congestion in the shipping lanes of neighboring Black Sea ports. These ports had to contend with substantial backlogs in mid-August.
