A Greek-controlled ship on charter to US commodities giant Cargill has been damaged after hitting a mine off Ukraine, according to media reports.
A person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News that the bulker, which the news agency did not identify, was sailing from a Ukrainian port in the Black Sea when the explosion occurred.
Ukrainian news site Dumska identified the vessel as the 75,200-dwt Georgia S (built 2011).
The incident took place on 16 November after the ship departed with a cargo of wheat from Pivdennyi Seaport at Yuzhnyi.
A list of outbound vessels in Ukraine’s Black Sea corridor obtained by TradeWinds confirms the Georgia S left the terminal on that day.
Both Bloomberg and Dumska reported that the ship was not severely damaged and its crew members were unharmed.
According to Bloomberg, the ship is sailing under its own power toward Constanta and will undergo further inspections at the Romanian port.
TradeWinds has contacted Cargill for comment.
The company’s Geneva-based shipping subsidiary, Cargill Ocean Transportation, operates some 700 vessels.
The incident comes after a missile, which is widely believed to be Russian, struck on 8 November the 91,900-dwt Kmax Ruler (built 2009), killing a pilot and injuring three seafarers.
A government official said the Kmax Ruler has already embarked on its return journey from Ukraine and is currently laden and underway in the Black Sea, Ukrainian media reported on Friday.
TradeWinds has reported that traffic on the shipping corridor to carry grain cargoes out of Ukraine slowed after the Odesa strike as shipowners pulled their vessels from the trade.
But on Tuesday, the London insurance market reached a deal with Kyiv to provide coverage for ships carrying Ukraine’s seaborne exports.
Government officials said on Friday that 151 ships have used the Black Sea shipping corridor since it was set up in August, according to a Reuters report that cited the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
Those vessels have moved 4.4m tonnes of cargo, including 3.2m tonnes of grain.
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