by Orhan Coskun and Can Sezer
ISTANBUL/ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey expects a ship loaded with grain to be able to leave Ukrainian ports every day as long as Istanbul’s agreement on secure sea corridors is respected, a senior official said on Tuesday. Turkish, the day after the departure of a first ship from Odessa.
“The plan is for a boat to leave (…) every day,” said the official on condition of anonymity.
“If all goes well, exports should be able to be done with one ship per day for some time,” he added.
The agreement on grain and fertilizer exports signed on July 22 in Istanbul by Russia and Ukraine under the aegis of the United Nations and Turkey, which controls the Black Sea straits, defines corridors secure shipping from three major ports in the oblast (administrative region) of Odessa: that of the city of Odessa, that of Chernomorsk and that of Yuzhni.
As part of this agreement, the Razoni – a ship flying the Sierra Leonean flag carrying a cargo of 26,527 tons of corn to Lebanon – was Monday morning the first boat loaded with cereals to have been able to leave Ukrainian ports since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24.
According to this senior Turkish official, the departure of the Razoni was delayed for a few days by “technical problems” since resolved and the maritime corridors should now work well.
According to Refinitiv Eikon data, the Razoni, which left Odessa on Monday morning, was midway through Turkish waters in the western Black Sea off Romania and the Danube Delta on Tuesday morning.
The Razoni, whose journey is going according to expectations, should dock in Istanbul overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, General Ozcan Altunbudak, Turkish representative in the joint coordination center set up by the four parties, said on Tuesday morning. signatories to the agreement and based in Istanbul.
According to the Turkish Ministry of Defense, the Razoni will be inspected on Wednesday morning by UN, Russian, Turkish and Ukrainian officials from the joint coordination center, as provided for by the Istanbul agreement.
(With contributions from Ece Toksabay; French version Myriam Rivet, editing by Kate Entringer)