Ukraine’s efforts to increase exports under the Black Sea grain deal with Russia are currently focused on securing faster inspections of ships rather than including more ports in the initiative, a senior Ukrainian official said on Wednesday. Kyiv accuses Russia of slowing down inspections, causing weeks of delays for ships and reducing the supply of Ukrainian grain to foreign markets. Russia has denied slowing down the process.
“Ukraine focuses on normalizing inspections rather than opening new ports,” the senior Ukrainian official told Reuters. “Why open the port of Mykolaiv if at the current rate of exports we can close half of the ports of Odesa, which are already open?”
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Ukraine’s infrastructure ministry said on Tuesday 94 vessels were waiting for inspection in the Bosphorus, including 69 empty ships for loading and 25 which had already been loaded with agricultural products. Vessels are waiting for an average of more than a month, the ministry said.
