The International Maritime Organisation is to hold an extraordinary council meeting to discuss the Ukraine crisis.
The shipping regulator — part of the United Nations — said the decision was taken after requests from members of its governing council.
TradeWinds earlier reported the European Union had requested a meeting through France, the current president.
Ukraine has also been urging the regulator to discuss seafarer safety and the invasion of the country.
The IMO said the meeting would address “the impacts on shipping and seafarers of the situation in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov”.
It will be held remotely on 10 and 11 March.
At least five ships have so far been seriously damaged, with one seafarer killed, and others injured by attacks on shipping.
In the latest incident on 2 March, the 2,086-dwt Helt (built 1985) sank off Odessa after apparently hitting a mine, according to the Estonia-based ship manager Vista Shipping Agency.
Bangladesh Shipping Corp’s 38,894-dwt Banglar Samriddhi (built 2018) was struck by a missile on the same day while anchored at Olvia, more than 100 km from Odessa. Third engineer Hadisur Rahman was killed in the incident.
More than 40 ships of over 20,000 dwt are trapped at Ukrainian ports and the Russian navy has closed access to the Sea of Azov.
Taking control
The advancing Russian invasion also threatens to take control of all the ports along the Ukraine’s southern coast.
The manager of a merchant vessel trapped in Odessa — one of Ukraine’s biggest ports — said he is concerned his ship and crew are about to get caught between the warring parties.
“We strongly fear that [the] ship and her crew will be used as human shields!” the manager told TradeWinds in an e-mail.
The northern Black Sea and Sea of Azov have already been designated high-risk areas under war risk insurance cover and employer and union collective bargaining employment contracts.
