Ports of “Big Odessa” last Saturday and Sunday dispatched 390 thousand tons of agricultural products within the framework of the “Grain Initiative”, the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine reported.
“For the last two days, nine ships left the ports of “Big Odessa” to deliver 390 thousand tons of agricultural products to Africa, Asia and Europe, including bulk carriers ALANDA STAR and SSI PRIVILEGE with 68 thousand tons of wheat for Egypt and Indonesia, as well as tanker EUROCHAMPION with 45 thousand tons of vegetable oil for India,” the Ministry noted.
The Ministry notes that 24 ships are being processed at the ports, involved in the “grain initiative. They load more than 860 thousand tons of Ukrainian agricultural products.
“Grain corridor” also moves three vessels for the loading of 93 thousand tons of agricultural products.
At the same time, 99 ships are waiting for inspection in the Bosporus, 72 of which – to enter the ports for loading, 27 – already with Ukrainian agricultural products.
“Russia’s goal is to slow down the process of vessel inspections. First they reduced the number of inspection teams to three, now they started to drag out the time of inspections themselves. Representatives of the Russian Federation have started to check even indicators that are not stipulated in the documents of the SKC and have nothing to do with the subject of the inspection (for example, whether judicial units work well, how much fuel, etc.),” explains Deputy Minister of Community, Territory and Infrastructure Development Yuriy Vaskov.
According to him, under this algorithm, the inspection of a single ship takes four hours, which leads to a longer queue and at the same time a million losses for the cargo owners because of downtime.
According to the Ministry of Infrastructure, as of December 25, inspection group #3 had not held a single inspection, resulting in only six inspections per day out of 10 scheduled.
The agency noted that for continuous movement of grain corridor should be held at least 12 inspections per day.
In total, since August 1, 594 ships left the ports of Greater Odessa, which exported 15.5 million tons of Ukrainian food to Asia, Europe and Africa.
Six vessels carrying nearly 154,000 tonnes of foods departed from Ukrainian ports on Thursday after receiving approval from the Joint Coordination Center (JCC).
“The Joint Coordination Center (JCC) reports that six vessels left Ukrainian ports today [on October 13] carrying a total of 153,505 metric tonnes of grain and other foods under the Black Sea Grain Initiative,” the center said.
In particular, the Wei He vessel is heading to China with 62,860 tonnes of sunflower meal on board, the Marlen bulker is carrying 33,000 tonnes of sunflower oil to Iraq, the Irmgard is carrying 30,817 tonnes of rapeseed to Germany, and the Ak Hamza is carrying 7,000 tonnes of corn to Lebanon.
Another two vessels – the Dignity (14,000 tonnes of corn) and the Yaf S (5,828 tonnes of wheat) – are bound for Turkey.
“Grains that reach a destination may go through processing and be transshipped to other countries,” the JCC said.
“As of October 13, the total tonnage of grain and other foodstuffs exported from the three Ukrainian ports is 7,363,704 metric tonnes. A total of 666 voyages (335 inbound and 331 outbound) have been enabled so far,” the center said.
The United Nations, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine signed a document in Istanbul on July 22 on opening a corridor to export grain from three Ukrainian ports – Chornomorsk, Odesa and Yuzhny.
CHINA, GERMANY, IRAQ, LEBANON, TURKEY, Ukrainian foods, VESSELS
The second caravan of four vessels under the Istanbul Grain Initiative left Ukrainian ports on Sunday morning, the total tonnage increased to almost 170,000 tons, sunflower oil and sunflower seeds appeared in addition to corn.
“The second caravan with Ukrainian food has just left the ports of Odessa and Chornomorsk – 3 ships from Chornomorsk and one more from Odessa. There are almost 170 thousand tons of agricultural products on board 4 bulk carriers Mustafa Necati, Star Helena, Glory and Riva Wind” , – the Ukrainian Sea Ports Administration reported on Facebook.
According to the Turkish Ministry of Defense on Twitter, the Riva Wind ship is heading to Iskenderun with 44,000 tons of corn, Mustafa Necati – to Italy with 6,000 tons of sunflower oil, Star Helena – to China with 45,000 tons of sunflower seeds and Glory – to Istanbul with 66 thousand tons of corn.
“The vessels will be anchored north of Istanbul and will be inspected by the Joint Coordination Centre,” the Turkish Defense Ministry specified.
As reported, on July 22 in Istanbul, at the proposal of the UN, Ukraine, Turkey and UN Secretary-General António Guteres signed the Initiative for the safe transportation of grain and food from the Ukrainian ports of Odessa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhny.
As part of the implementation of agreements with a cargo of Ukrainian corn, 4 ships have already been sent with more than 80 thousand tons of corn: Razoni, Navi Star, Rojen and Polarnet.
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS, Second caravan, UKRAINIAN PORTS, VESSELS
Two Sandown-class mine countermeasures vessels Ramsey and Blyth, belonging to the Royal Navy of Great Britain, have officially completed their service in the British Navy and will soon be transferred to Ukraine, the Royal British Navy press service said on Wednesday.
“Both Sandown-class mine countermeasures vessels have served extensively during careers spanning 21 years and 175,000 miles for Ramsey, 185,000 miles over 20 years for Blyth, supporting operations in the Middle East, around the UK or on NATO duties in northern European and Mediterranean water,” the Royal British Navy said.
It notes that the vessels are being replaced by expanding Project Wilton drive to introduce autonomous or uncrewed boats and systems. Into minehunting.
“Blyth and Ramsey will enjoy a fresh lease of life in the Black Sea. Once further work is completed on the two vessels, they will be transferred to the Ukrainian Navy,” the British Navy said.
Smart Maritime Group (SMG) of Smart-Holding, combining Kherson and Mykolaiv shipyards, will modernize six coastal vessels of the Koster class (a vessel with a limited navigation area from the coast) by order of the Dutch company Handelskade Shipsales B.V.
According to a SMG’s press release on Wednesday, under the terms of the contract, each vessel’s length will be increased by 12 meters during the modernization by installing an insert and a partition. The shipyard specialists will also paint ballast tanks, outer hull and cargo holds, lay new piping systems and install new hatch covers.
In addition, a self-ejecting boat will be installed in the stern of the vessel. About 190 tonnes of metal will be used to modernize each vessel.
At the same time, it is noted that the modernization will significantly improve the technical and economic characteristics of the ships, they will become two-hold (now one), the deadweight will increase, on average, by 20%.
The first two vessels are expected to be delivered to SMG for repairs in the second decade of January. It is planned to complete the modernization of all vessels by July 2021.
The total cost of the contract will be about UAH 100 million.
“The company has already started cutting and processing high-quality metal purchased for this order at the enterprises of the Metinvest holding,” the press release said.
