ANKARA
Three grain-loaded ships from Ukraine docked at the Black Sea entrance of Türkiye's Istanbul Strait en route to Ireland, the Turkish National Defense Ministry said on Saturday.
The first ship, the Panama-flagged Navi-Star, which departed from Ukraine's port of Odesa on Friday, is carrying 33,000 tons of corn under a recent grain shipment deal signed by Türkiye, Russia, Ukraine, and the UN to ease the global food crisis.
On July 22, those countries and the UN signed a deal in Istanbul to reopen three Ukrainian ports for exports of Ukraine grain, which had been stuck for months due to the Russia-Ukraine war, now in its sixth month.
A team from the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul, consisting of representatives from all four sides, are inspecting the ship.
After the inspection, it is expected to proceed on its way.
After the Navi-Star's arrival, the Malta-flagged ship Rojen, which departed from Ukraine's Chornomorsk port with 13,000 tons of grain for the UK, also anchored off the north of Istanbul.
Later in the evening, the Turkish-flagged vessel Polarnet also arrived off Istanbul with 12,000 tons of corn.
After being inspected, the ship is expected to move on to the Port of Derince in Türkiye's northwestern province of Kocaeli.
