Today at 12:45
On the morning of 8 August, as part of the “Grain Initiative”, the first ship with Ukrainian food since 24 February left Pivdenny Seaport – the bulk carrier SACURA is heading to Italy.
This was announced by the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine on Facebook.
The vessel joined the convoy with the bulk carrier ARIZONA, which departed from the port of Chornomorsk to the Netherlands. A total of 60,000 tonnes of agricultural products are on board the ships.
Today, the largest Ukrainian port – Pivdenny – is fully involved in the implementation of the Initiative. All the ports of Greater Odessa are now being used for the export of agricultural products.
Our current goal is to increase transshipment in ports. Within 2 weeks, we plan to reach a transshipment volume of 3-5 vessels per day,” said Oleksandr Kubrakov, the Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine.
After the outbreak of a full-scale war on February 24, 2022, a significant part of the southern territory of Ukraine was blocked. Therefore, the ability of Ukraine to export goods by sea was eliminated.
Ukraine blamed a Russian blockade of its ports for the halt in grain shipments. At that time, Moscow blamed mines in the water placed by Ukraine as protection from a Russian amphibious assault.
In a deal brokered by Turkey and the United Nations last month, Moscow and Kyiv agreed to resume shipments of wheat and other grain from three Ukrainian ports. It was for the first time since Russia invaded more than five months ago.
The halting of grain shipments from Ukraine, one of the world’s biggest grain exporters, contributed to a spike in food prices and caused concern about countries in the Middle East and Africa receiving enough grain and other commodities to feed their populations.
For the first time since the start of the full-scale invasion of Russia on 24 February, a vessel for loading arrived in Ukraine on Saturday evening – the bulk carrier FULMAR S.
