Two vessels involved in the Ukrainian grain export trade have suffered delays in Turkey’s Bosphorus strait.
The engine of the 6,900-dwt Cook Islands-flag multipurpose Briza (built 2003) failed at around 23:30 GMT on Friday night as it transited the waterway, according to ship agency Tribeca Shipping.
It anchored near Istanbul’s Kandilli area, then lifted anchor at 01:20 GMT on Saturday and was taken to an anchorage in the southern Bosphorus by tug boats.
Traffic in the strait was halted. Southbound voyages resumed at 05:30 GMT, Tribeca added.
The Briza remained at anchor on Monday morning, AIS data showed.
Its destination is listed as Chornomorsk in Ukraine.
The Briza, operated by Ukraine’s Donbass Transit Service, was due to load grain under a United Nations-brokered deal agreed in July with Russia.
The Istanbul-based Joint Coordination Centre (JCC), which oversees the agreement and includes UN, Russian, Ukrainian and Turkish officials, said on Friday that the Briza had been inspected and cleared to sail to Ukraine along with seven other ships.
Bulker grounding
This was the second casualty incident involving a Ukrainian grain export vessel in two days.
The 32,000-dwt Panama-flag Lady Zehma (built 2005) grounded in the strait on Thursday, with a cargo of more than 3,000 tonnes of grain from Ukraine.
The ship, which had left Chornomorsk on 28 August, was towed to anchorage in Istanbul.
Turkish state broadcaster TRT Haber said traffic was reopened following a halt after the accident, which was blamed on a rudder failure.
Tribeca reported that the towage and salvage operation began three hours after the grounding.
150 metres from shore
During the grounding, the ship’s bow was about 150 metres from shore in the busy Bebek neighbourhood, according to a witness and Refinitiv Eikon data.
The Lady Zehma, listed by Clarksons as owned by unknown Turkish interests, remained at anchorage in Istanbul on Monday.
Security fears mean Ukrainian trade has been limited to older, low-value ships so far.
As of Friday, about 1.77m tonnes of grain and other foodstuffs had been exported under the safe corridor deal, while 160 inbound and outbound voyages had been enabled, the JCC said.
Russia blockaded Ukrainian ports following its 24 February invasion.
Three terminals were unblocked under the deal signed on 22 July.
