Deputy Head of the Agricultural Council, Denys Marshuk, indicated today, Monday, that "Ukraine is considering exporting grain shipments through a corridor recently tested in the Black Sea," following the passage of other cargo ships through the same route the ship took last week. Marshuk stated, "Only one commercial vessel has passed through it so far, and it has expressed readiness to move through alternative routes." He added, "Perhaps seven to eight more ships should pass... then these alternative routes may possibly become corridors for vessels transporting grain and oilseed shipments in the future."
The Financial Times quoted Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Economy Oleksandr Gryban as saying that "Kyiv is finalizing a plan with global insurance companies to cover grain ships sailing to and from Black Sea ports." Ukraine is one of the largest producers and exporters of grain globally, typically shipping millions of tons of food products from the ports of Odesa and Mykolaiv on the Black Sea. However, since Russia withdrew from the year-long safe grain corridor agreement, Ukraine has had to rely on its ports in the Danube River delta in the southwestern part of the country.
To attract shipping companies to Ukrainian ports that have been under fire from Russian forces, Marshuk noted that Ukraine has already allocated 20 billion hryvnias ($547 million) to insure the vessels. Nevertheless, the head of the Ukrainian Grain Traders Union, Mykola Horbachev, expressed skepticism about the readiness of many shipping companies to navigate the temporary corridors despite the compensation mechanism for potential losses.
