ODESA, Ukraine

An empty cargo ship on Sunday arrived at Ukraine’s Chornomorsk port to collect grain.

The Barbados-flagged merchant vessel Fulmar S., which departed Istanbul on Friday, was expected to reach the Ukrainian port on Saturday. The delay was caused by a 17-hour wait in the open sea near Odesa port, according to officials.

“This is the first vessel that arrived in Ukraine for loading,” Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Twitter on Saturday.

“Our next step is to ensure the ability of Ukrainian ports to handle more than 100 vessels per month,” he added.

On July 22, Türkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine signed a deal in Istanbul to reopen three Ukrainian ports for the export of Ukrainian grain, which had been stuck for months due to the Russia-Ukraine war, now in its sixth month.

To oversee Ukrainian grain exports, the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul was officially launched on July 27, comprising representatives from the three countries and the UN to enable safe transportation of commercial foodstuffs and fertilizers by merchant ships.

*Writing by Merve Berker