Status: 01.08.2022 04:01 a.m
The supply of grain from Ukraine continues to face enormous difficulties. Russia’s war makes shipping nearly impossible. Nevertheless, convoys are to set sail again soon.
Yevheni stands on the beach in the small town of Chornomorsk and looks along the shore towards the port. When ships sail, you can see it well from here, he says. “We see the harbor over there, the lighthouse and usually you can see the ships as they leave. Where the cranes are they usually leave – now you can’t see anything.”
Yevheni is 26 and actually in the marketing industry. Now, with other volunteers, he takes care of the Ukrainian army and people in need, both near the front and in his hometown of Chornomorsk. “Berlin” is written on his black baseball hat.
The small cafe is open, but the long, bright, sandy beach is yawning and empty and green weeds shoot up. The entrances to the sea are blocked with nato wire and such a wire has also been rolled out directly on the deep blue water. Trespassing and swimming are strictly forbidden and red mine signs every few meters warn of the deadly danger in the water. A few beach walkers still have suspiciously wet hair.
A spokesman for Turkish President Erdogan said on Sunday it was likely that the first freighters could depart on Monday morning. It is not yet officially clear on the Ukrainian side when the convoy with the first 16 grain carriers will leave the Ukrainian Black Sea ports involved.
From the Ukrainian point of view, export involves high risks. Danger looms from incalculable Russian rocket attacks and Moscow’s warships in the Black Sea. Ukraine’s Agriculture Minister Mykola Solsky said on Sunday that Russia is capable of anything: “It is clear that we are exporting under difficult conditions, but there is no other option,” he says.
The first planned convoy of ships with almost 600,000 tons of grain will travel around 320 nautical miles from Odessa to Istanbul – around 600 kilometers. He is monitored from the control center in Istanbul. Online – with drones and via satellite. In order to protect the south from Russian attacks, Ukraine mined the ports at the beginning of the war – and now has to ensure safe corridors.
Dmytro Bodnariuk from Odessa knows the oceans like the back of his hand and assesses the situation as follows: “I worked as a captain for many years and in November 2019 I brought grain from Ukraine to China from the Cherson region. So I know how it works and it’s a difficult thing now, because the port was mined. It’s all very difficult – if they made the corridor for the ships and really offer them safety, they can go. It’s very, very important for Ukraine.”
Because of the risks, insurance is correspondingly expensive. According to the Ukrainian Minister of Agriculture, Mykola Solsky, the amount was agreed. The rates were initially more expensive because many companies and ship owners would wait and see how the first exports went, Solsky told the Ukrainian news agency “Ukrinform”.
Politicians, insurance companies, shipping companies, foreign and Ukrainian grain trading companies or Ukrainian farmers – they all count on it working out.
“Let’s go a little further,” says Yevheni, strolling along the beach in Chornomorsk. The basis for the export is a Ukrainian-Russian agreement brokered by Turkey and the United Nations. During this time, the Ukrainian ports should not be attacked, but a day later rockets hit the port of Odessa.
“Over there you can see Odessa, the houses, the church and where the rockets hit, we saw everything from here,” says Yevheni. On Sunday evening, two Iskande missiles hit another quarry in Odessa. The Odessa City Council reports that the Ukrainian army was shot down by the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula in Ukraine.