Russia partially unblocks the work of the “grain corridor”

On June 5, the Joint Coordination Center (JCC) conducted at least one inspection of ships entering and leaving the “grain corridor”, which were the first after May 31. According to the JCC, the 75,600 DWT Panamanian-flagged cargo vessel Navios Sagittarius was allowed to enter the port of Pivdennyi, the first vessel to enter the grain corridor in the direction of this port since May 2.

On Monday, the JCC inspected the dry cargo vessel Maroulio S, which was heading from the port of Chornomorsk to Spain with 65.84 thousand tons of corn.

As reported earlier, after the “grain corridor” was reopened on May 19, the JCC inspected only one vessel leaving Ukrainian ports – on May 31, the Xin Shun bulk carrier sailed to China with 44 thousand tons of corn and 19.5 thousand tons of barley from the port of Odesa. At the same time, 29 vessels sailed through the grain corridor to Ukrainian ports.

Since the beginning of June, there have been no inspections of vessels under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, neither at the entrance to nor exit from Ukrainian ports.

As a reminder, on June 1, the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine announced that the Black Sea Grain Initiative was suspended again as Russia blocked the registration of the incoming fleet to all Ukrainian ports. In particular, on May 30 and 31, Russia registered only 1 incoming vessel for inspection at the port of Chornomorsk, while other parties to the JCC confirmed 10 vessels for participation in the Black Sea Initiative at all three ports.

On June 2, a representative of the UN Secretary-General, Stéphane Dujarric, said at a briefing that Russia refuses to allow ships to enter Ukraine’s Pivdennyi port as part of the grain corridor until Ukraine resumes exports of Russian ammonia through Odesa. He also confirmed that due to the actions of the Russian side, the number of ship registrations within the grain corridor has decreased from three to two per day since May 24.

In May, Russia threatened to block the grain corridor, although the agreements provided for an automatic extension of its operation for four months, until July 18. On May 17, Russia allegedly agreed to extend the agreement for another two months.

Earlier, the co-owner of Russian fertilizer producers Uralchem, Uralkali, and Togliattiazot, Dmitry Mazepin, asked Vladimir Putin to resolve the issue of resuming the transit of Russian ammonia for export through Odesa. This was officially reported by the Kremlin.

However, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly stated that he would support the idea of resuming Russian ammonia exports through Ukraine only if Russia returns all Ukrainian prisoners of war.

“The Grain Initiative, adopted in July 2022, allowed grain exports from three Ukrainian ports: “Odesa, Chornomorsk, and Pivdennyi.

Tags: Black Sea grain corridor