Grain deal. Turkey is unlikely to agree to escort ships at Ukraine’s request

Turkey is unlikely to participate in military escort of ships from Ukraine after Russia withdrew from the grain deal. Bloomberg writes about this with reference to a source.

According to the publication, Ukraine insists on continuing grain exports from key ports, while insurers and shippers are not very confident in such a step.

“No sane owner (of a ship – ed.) will go there without insurance,” said Vasilis Muis, one of the heads of Doric Shipbrokers SA, adding that without the corridor’s protection, “Ukrainian trade is dead.”

For his part, HarvEast Holding CEO Dmytro Skornyakov said that the main task for Ukraine now is to get Turkey’s support for the grain deal. Turkish military escorts could be used to allow ships to enter and leave Ukrainian ports.

However, a Bloomberg source said that this would be a very risky step for Turkey, and it is unlikely to participate. The country would not jeopardize its ships to help vessels from Ukraine, instead it is focused on restarting the deal involving Russia.

And Paul Markides, maritime transport quality manager at Intercargo, believes that shipowners will not call at Ukrainian ports until the grain corridors are restored, because it is dangerous.

Tags: Turkey, Black Sea grain corridor, Ukraine