The Saint-Kitts and Nevis-flagged bulk carrier TK Majestic, carrying grain as part of the United Nations’ Black Sea Grains Initiative, waits in the southern Bosphorus anchorage in Istanbul, Turkey, July 15, 2023. Portal/Mehmet Emin Caliskan/File Photo Acquire LICENSING RIGHTS
KYIV, Oct 26 (Portal) – Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov on Thursday denied reports from Ukrainian and British companies that the new Black Sea export corridor had been suspended.
“The information about the cancellation or unscheduled suspension of the temporary #Ukrainian_corridor for the movement of civilian ships to and from the ports of the Great Odessa (region) is false,” Kubrakov said on X, formerly Twitter.
“All available routes of the Ukrainian Navy are valid and used by civilian ships.”
Kiev-based consultancy Barva Invest, British security firm Ambrey and a specialized outlet, Ukrainian Ports, reported that Ukraine had stopped using the corridor due to a possible threat from Russian warplanes and sea mines.
Ukraine used the corridor to boost its maritime exports without Russia’s consent, defying threats from Moscow, which in July canceled a United Nations-brokered deal that had allowed some food exports to flow despite the war.
“We would like to inform you of a temporary suspension of shipping traffic to and from (the ports). The current ban is in effect on October 26, but it is possible that it will be extended,” the consultancy said on the Telegram messaging app.
Chicago wheat futures, a global price benchmark, rose on the news, rebounding from an earlier two-week low. They later rose by about 1%.
Wheat futures were under pressure this week on hopes that Ukraine would expand its grain exports as well as relief from rains in dry cropping areas around the world.
Barva Invest, which specializes in Ukraine’s agricultural sector, said a de facto suspension had already been in place for two days at the behest of the Kiev military, which had cited a threat from increased Russian Air Force activity.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that he had ordered Russian warplanes armed with Kinzhal missiles to patrol the Black Sea.
British maritime security firm Ambrey said in a report that Ukraine’s Seaports Authority issued a communique late Wednesday saying: “There will be no ship movements along the entry-exit corridor on October 26, 2023.”
The suspension was due to operations by the Russian Air Force in the region, it said.
“On October 25, Ambrey informed clients that the Russian Air Force dropped at least four objects, likely acoustic and/or magnetic sea mines, in the Ukrainian Grain Corridor transit area near Snake Island, Ukraine,” it said.
HUMANITARIAN CORRIDOR
Ukraine in August set up a “humanitarian corridor” for ships heading to African and Asian markets to try to circumvent a virtual blockade in the Black Sea after Russia terminated the agreement that had guaranteed Kiev’s wartime sea exports .
Later, a senior agriculture official said the route, which runs along Ukraine’s southwestern Black Sea coast, into Romanian territorial waters and on to Turkey, would also be used for grain shipments.
Since it went into operation in August, around 700,000 tons of grain have left Ukrainian ports via the new route. Until Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine shipped up to six million tons of grain from its Black Sea ports every month.
Kubrakov said 23 ships were being loaded in the ports of Odessa, Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi.
“A total of 51 ships used the entrance corridor. “33 ships exported more than 1.3 million tons of Ukrainian agricultural products and other cargo,” he said.
Additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Jonathan Saul in London; Edited by Tom Balmforth, Mark Heinrich and Giles Elgood
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