NATO has rejected calls by ship manager V.Group for naval escorts for commercial ships passing through the black sea.
Chief executive Rene Kofod-Olsen said the US-led military alliance should intervene to ensure trade can flow from a region of vital importance for global food supplies.
“We should demand that our seafaring and marine traffic is being protected in international waters. I am sure NATO and others have a role to play in the protection of the commercial fleet,” he told The Financial Times.
“Russia’s naval presence in the Black Sea has disrupted maritime commerce even before its invasion of Ukraine,” NATO said in response to Kofod-Olsen’s call.
“NATO is not considering a naval mission to escort ships in the Black Sea, but NATO allies that have coastal borders — Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey — have deployed ships to find and neutralise any mines that may be in the area,” it told the Financial Times.
Russian and Ukraine accounted for about 29% of the global wheat trade in the 2020/21 season, according to figures from Banchero Costa.
“The conflict in the Black Sea has disrupted the flow of grains from the region with Ukraine suspending port operations for commercial activities since the invasion on 24 February,” the Italian broker said.
“Russian grain shipments from the Black Sea are continuing, but are affected by exceptionally high insurance premiums for vessels. In addition, the sanctions that have been applied make commercial transactions challenging.”
More than 500 crew members remain trapped in Ukrainian ports following the Russian invasion, according to figures released by the International Maritime Organization last week.
IMO secretary general Kitack Lim also admitted that plans to establish a Blue Safe Maritime Corridor for ships trapped by the war had “failed to get off the ground”.
“If you look at any other place where there has been any other regional conflict of size and international waters have been impacted, then you would find a situation where you would rely on some form of escorts,” Kofod-Olsen told the Financial Times.
NATO’s naval forces are no strangers to the world’s maritime hotspots having previously been deployed on anti-piracy missions off the Horn of Africa and more recently in anti-terror operations in the Mediterranean.
