After the signature, the action. One week after the agreement reached between kyiv and Moscow on the resumption of grain exports, the first shipments should leave “from this week” on the waters of the Black Sea. “We expect the deal to start working in the coming days.“, declared, Monday, July 25, Oleksandre Kubrakov, the Ukrainian Minister of Infrastructure. Some 25 million tonnes of cereals, in particular wheat, will therefore leave granaries and silos. Franceinfo explains how the operations will take place.
A coordination center based in Istanbul
Turkey, which was at the helm in the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, obtained only a cbetween coordination is open on its floor. The structure, responsible for controlling operations, was inaugurated on Wednesday July 27 in Istanbul. Installed within a military academy, it is made up of atwenty members: five representatives from Russia, five from Ukraine, five from the UN and five from Turkey.
The Joint Coordination Center (or CCC) is responsible for registering the merchant ships that will take part in the convoys and monitoring them via the internet and by satellite. He will also and above all have to inspect them thoroughly on departure and arrival from Istanbul in order to guarantee that they are transporting nothing but cereals. It was a requirement of Russia to prevent the Ukrainians from using the shipments to import weapons.
This check will be carried out “by joint teams at the appropriate places” at the time of loading in Ukrainian ports and upon arrival in Turkish ports, said Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar. But without “no military presence”. If necessary, demining may take place. It will be decided and organized “by the parties”.
Secure corridors set up in the Black Sea
It’s another step important in view of the resumption of cereal exports: kyiv announced on Wednesday 27 July that the three ports of the country from which the ships will leave had started to operate again. They have “back to work”welcomed the Ukrainian Navy.
In detail, these are the ports of Odessa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhny. They are located a few dozen kilometers from each other, in southern Ukraine, facing the Black Sea. kyiv hopes to be able to increase their number in the future. “In the next two weeks we will be technically ready to carry out grain exports from all Ukrainian ports”promised the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure, Yuri Vaskov.
/2022/07/28/phpjCc0Yy.png)
These “safe corridors” are set up for a period of 120 days, i.e. four months. In the agreement, Moscow and Kyiv are committed to “do not attack” vessels carrying grain throughout this period. The UN has clarified that “Ukrainian pilots” would pave the way for cargo ships in territorial waters, after Russian demands to clear the Black Sea of mines laid by the Ukrainians to protect their coasts were rejected.
For former American Admiral Fred Kenney, who will represent the United Nations, “the first function” of this new device is “guarantee safe navigation for cargo ships. Everything will be done in this direction.” Concretely, “IThe exit and entry of ships into seaports will be done by forming a convoy which will accompany the lead ship.said the Ukrainian navy on Thursday.
Rail operators ready to accelerate exports
Much remains to be done to ensure the safety of grain convoys. Indeed, the trace of “maritime humanitarian corridor” has not yet been fixed. What about the distance that ships, planes or military drones will have to respect? And we still need find shipowners and volunteer crews. To do this, the Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure has just launched public tenders “for Ukrainian transport companies to transport wheat from silos to port infrastructure”writes RFI.
This call is intended for shipowners and international companies to offer their services to bring cargo to Ukraine. “This Thursday in London, marine insurance companies began agreeing rates to navigate these troubled waters.continues the radio. But at this stage, there is no assurance that Russia will not fire on port facilities.”
With the help of Western countries, kyiv is therefore working on other export routes via the Danube, rail or road, for example. In AIn Germany, the railway company Deutsche Bahn has already said it is ready to speed up exports via its network to transport them to ports in Poland, the Netherlands or Germany. “We can significantly increase the capacity of the system in the coming weeks, in order to achieve the maximum extraction [de céréales] from Ukraine”, told German television ZDF Sigrid Nikutta, the director of DB Cargo, the freight division of the company. Pproblem: rail only allows one to two million tonnes to leave Ukraine each month, far from the capacity ofBlack Sea ports.