The Sierra Leone-flagged cargo ship Razoni sails under Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge after being inspected in Istanbul, Türkiye, on Aug 3, 2022. (EMRAH GUREL / AP)
ISTANBUL – The first grain ship to depart from Ukraine under a UN-brokered deal docked in Türkiye on Thursday after 11 days at sea, Refinitiv data showed, and the ship's agent in Türkiye said it would continue to Egypt after unloading part of its cargo.
The Razoni set sail from Ukraine's Odesa port on Aug 1 under a deal brokered by the United Nations and Türkiye between Russia and Ukraine. Eleven other ships have left since then.
The Razoni set sail from Ukraine's Odesa port on Aug 1 under a deal brokered by the UN and Türkiye between Russia and Ukraine. Eleven other ships have left since then
While the Razoni was initially headed to Lebanon's Tripoli, Ukraine's embassy in the country said the buyer had refused delivery due to a five-month delay and the ship was looking for a new customer.
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The ship, which had since been at anchor off Türkiye's southern coast, entered the port in Mersin Thursday afternoon, Refinitiv ship tracker data showed.
Kadir Soyer, agency director at Mersin-based shipping agent Toros, said the ship would offload 1,500 tons of corn in Türkiye and later continue to Egypt with the rest of its 26,527-ton load.
"1,500 tons will be offloaded in Mersin and the rest will go to Egypt," he told Reuters via phone.
Toros was only handling the docking and offloading in Türkiye and would not be involved in the ship's trip to Egypt, he said.
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