“Grain initiative”: Ukraine will increase the cargo capacity of ships due to the sabotage of inspections by the Russians
As part of the grain initiative, Ukraine increases the tonnage of ships in order to increase the volume of food exports in the conditions of sabotage of ship inspections by the Russians.
She reported about it press service Ministry of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure.
Last week, 25 ships exported 1.1 million tons of agricultural products to African countries, and compared to the previous week, the volume of exports through the ports of Greater Odessa increased by 152 thousand tons.
At the same time, the ministry emphasizes, the rate of arrival of new vessels for loading continues to decrease. Last week, the ports of Great Odesa received only 16 ships, the day before – 25 ships. The reason lies in the Russians’ sabotage of the inspections necessary for ships to pass in the Joint Coordination Center (JCC) in Istanbul.
“For the third month in a row, the Russians are purposefully sabotaging inspections under various unfounded and sometimes absurd pretexts. In this regard, as of February 12, 145 vessels are waiting in line for inspection by the SCC, of which 122 are headed to Ukrainian ports for agricultural products “, MIU said.
Currently, there are 18 ships in the ports of Great Odesa, on which 584,500 tons of food are loaded. Only one vessel moves along the “grain corridor” after the inspection.
“In order to increase the volume of exports under current conditions and reduce idle time, the tonnage of vessels participating in the Initiative will be increased. In particular, for grain – from 20,000 tons to 25,000 tons, and for oil – from 6,000 tons to 10,000 tons,” the report says. Given that the average number of inspections of the incoming fleet is 2.5 vessels per day, an increase in volume should be expected in one and a half months.
As the ministry reminds, since the start of the grain corridor, 732 ships have left the ports of Greater Odessa, exporting 21 million tons of Ukrainian food. This volume could exceed 35 million tons under the conditions of normal functioning of the initiative.
