Party on August 1 of the port of Odessa, the first ship authorized to navigate following the agreement between Russia, Ukraine and Turkey has so far delivered barely 5 % of the corn it transported. After five months of storage in the holds, the quality of the cargo has deteriorated.
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It was to be a humanitarian triumph: Ukrainian cereals breaking five months of Russian naval blockade to supply the Middle East and Africa. But the Razoni, the first ship of Armada, threw doubt on the resumption of maritime traffic from and to Ukraine. The boat, which left the port of Odessa on August 1, thanks to a tripartite agreement between Russia, Ukraine and Turkey, under the auspices of the United Nations, and its charter are indeed confronted with serious setbacks salespeople could also share the dozens of cereal trees left in its wake.
Wednesday August 10 in the evening, the Sierra-Léonian pavilion cargo, for the first time, accosted in Mersin, Turkey, after four days to make circles in the water off Cyprus. To finally deliver only 5 % of the 26,527 tonnes of corn to be delivered to a Turkish buyer. The razoni must in principle take over to unload the rest of its cargo in Egypt, said the director of the Turkish transport company Toros Lojistik Kargo at the Reuters agency. This is only assumption, because Toros only took care of delivery to the port of Mersin.
“Quality problem”
Everything was fine until the cereal farmer crossed the Bosphorus to engage in the Aegean Sea. A host committee, organized by the Ukraine Embassy in Lebanon, was waiting for the ship on August 7 in the port of Tripoli, for a communication operation for cereal buyers and the general public. But the initial buyer of the cargo, a Lebanese company, suddenly failed, despite the pressing need for cereals in this country.
After a few days of uncertainty, the Ukraine Embassy in Lebanon finally published a press release modestly explaining that the period of five months – due to blockade – between loading of cereals and delivery had “encouraged the Buyer and the sender to agree on the cancellation of the order “. As if the buyer, the first interested party, suddenly discovered the delay in delivery, while world attention is focused on the boat. The rumors went well, especially on possible Russian pressures exerted on the Lebanese buyer.
“I do not think it is political pressure. The explanation is more earth on earth”, explains to the world Andrey Sizov, consultant at Sovecon and expert in the cereal market around the Black Sea. “This is a problem of quality of corn, which has remained five months in the ship’s holds, while the maximum time is one month. Corn deteriorates quickly, mycotoxins develop and make the cargo cargo Improper for consumption, even if it is food for livestock and not humans. Perhaps a sample has already been taken? “Before leaving the Water of the Black Sea, the RAZONI was jointly inspected by the Turks and the Russians, in accordance with the tripartite agreement.
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