Ship scheduled to depart from Ukraine unable to sail due to weather

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Ship scheduled to depart from Ukraine unable to sail due to weather

ISTANBUL: A grain-carrying ship scheduled to depart from Ukraine's Chornomorsk port on Thursday August 11 was unable to set sail due to bad weather conditions, Turkey's defence ministry said.

The deal between Russia and Ukraine has allowed 12 ships to depart Ukraine's Black Sea port since August 1, according to a deal between the United Nations and Turkey.

The agreement was reached last month after warnings that the halt in grain shipments from Ukrainian ports due to the conflict could lead to severe food shortages and even outbreaks of famine in parts of the world.

A ship with departure from Chornomorsk Port for grain shipment was planned for today, but could not sail due to bad weather and sea conditions, Turkey's defence ministry said.

The Ocean Lion, the biggest ship to leave Ukraine so far, was at anchor in the Sea of Marmara, near the southern end of Istanbul's Bosphorus Strait after leaving Ukraine on Tuesday.

Two other ships, the Sacura and the Mustafa Necati, were close by, while the Rahmi Yagci was anchored at the northern end of the Bosphorus.

The Razoni, the first ship to leave Ukraine, was initially headed to Lebanon, but the Ukrainian embassy there said the buyer refused delivery due to a delay of five months.

According to Refinitiv ship tracker data, it was anchored off Turkey's southern coast on Thursday morning.

Before Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, the two countries together accounted for a third of global wheat exports in a special operation called a military operation to demilitarise its neighbour.

Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish and UN personnel are working on the resumption of grain exports at the Joint Coordination Centre JCC in Istanbul.

The Turkish defence ministry said in its statement that two grain ships had been inspected in Istanbul on Wednesday and were on their way to Ukraine, but gave no further details.

It also said ships in Ukrainian ports were being loaded, but did not elaborate.

In the past week, two empty cargo ships, the Fulmar S and the Osprey S, arrived in Ukraine to collect grain after being inspected by a JCC team in Istanbul.