The United Nations is prioritising the release of ships trapped at Ukraine ports since the outbreak of hostilities with Russia in preparation for humanitarian shipments of grain.
Frederick Kenney — coordinator for the United Nations Black Sea Initiative at the recently formed Joint Coordination Centre in Istanbul — said the emphasis is still on getting ships out of Ukraine grain ports first.
“Our priority is to free up space so vessels can come in and take cargo,” Kenney said.
“We have seen steady progress in the number of ships going in and going out,” he said. “The number of ship inspections is increasing, inbound and outbound, as deals are made and charterparties for ships arranged, which takes some time,” he said.
So far, 12 vessels have been allowed to sail out of the Ukraine ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhny but dozens of vessels remain stuck.
Kenney said four vessels have now been approved to enter the Ukraine ports to load cargoes.
He said that there is plenty of interest from ship operators to enter the trade with a significant number of vessels currently going through the application process.
The World Food Programme is also trying to charter vessels to pick up cargoes.
“We have seen tremendous interest from ship owners in terms of making this transit,” Kenney said. “We are aware that there are a number of empty vessels sitting at anchorage in Turkey ready to arrange contracts once they have the applications processed,” he said.
Vessels leaving or heading for Ukraine ports will begin their voyage through a specially arranged shipping corridor at 5am to maximise visibility for spotting mines. So far, no mines have been detected Kenney said.
TradeWinds earlier reported how marine insurers have started quoting war risk cover for vessels to enter Ukraine to pick up cargoes.
Rates being quoted vary between 1.5% and 2% of hull value but could fall rapidly as more vessels safely make the passage in and out of Ukraine.
