The queue of vessels in the Bosphorus is growing due to the delay in inspection by the Russians

According to the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine, 92 vessels are currently waiting in the Bosphorus for inspection by representatives of the Joint Coordination Center for loading Ukrainian grain.

As a result of the artificial delay of the inspection by representatives of the Russian Federation, the queue continues to grow. So, out of 65 ships declared for inspection, Russian inspectors registered only 3 ships today. This slows down the work of Ukrainian ports and reduces the export of agricultural products by at least 3 million tons per month.

In two days, 4 ships left the ports of Great Odesa, and 23 more ships remain under loading. The daily rental rate from the Black Sea has almost halved over the past two weeks, despite the open sabotage by the Russians in Istanbul, as shipowners can realistically predict downtime, said the Director of BPG Shipping Ivanov. Some charterers now require shipowners to factor in the freight rate up to 20 days of waiting in Istanbul at the shipowner’s expense, so the cost of freight has decreased, allowing traders to increase purchase prices.

Experts expect that in January the cost of freight will increase slightly, although at the moment the Black Sea remains the most depressed area for freight and a certain number of vessels are standing still. In the future, freight will be affected by increased sales and weather conditions, which shipowners will take into account in the cost.

“Now everyone understands that the presence of inspection in Istanbul has become a tool of the Russian Federation to increase the price of Ukrainian grain and, accordingly, to improve the competitiveness of Russian grain. We would like to believe that the absurd inspections will be canceled, at least for already loaded vessels, which will drastically reduce the overall inspection time,” added BPG Shipping.

Tags: Ukraine, export, grain