A member of the inspection delegation inspects the “Razoni”, the freighter carrying 26,000 tons of corn from the port of Odessa, Ukraine, off the coast of northwestern Istanbul on August 3, 2022. TURKISH MINISTRY OF DEFENSE / AFP
It was to be a humanitarian triumph: Ukrainian grain broke through the five-month Russian naval blockade to supply the Middle East and Africa. But the Razoni, the Armada’s first ship, raised doubts about the resumption of maritime traffic to and from Ukraine. The boat, which left the port of Odessa on August 1 thanks to a tripartite agreement between Russia, Ukraine and Turkey under the auspices of the United Nations, and its charterer are indeed facing serious trade setbacks, also shared by dozens might of grain farmers who left in his wake.
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On Wednesday evening, August 10, the Sierra Leonean-flagged freighter docked in Mersin, Turkey for the first time after circling in the waters off Cyprus for four days. To end up delivering just under 5% of the 26,527 tons of corn it transports to a Turkish buyer. The Razoni should in principle set sail again to unload the rest of its cargo in Egypt, the director of Turkish transport company Toros Lojistik Kargo told Portal. This is only a guess as Toros only took care of the delivery to Mersin port.
“Quality Issue”
All was going well until the grain farmer crossed the Bosphorus to invade the Aegean. A welcoming committee organized by the Embassy of Ukraine in Lebanon awaited the ship at the port of Tripoli on August 7 for a communication campaign aimed at grain buyers and the general public. But the first buyer of the cargo, a Lebanese company, suddenly failed, despite the country’s urgent need for grain.
Finally, after several days of uncertainty, the Embassy of Ukraine in Lebanon issued a press release, humbly stating that the blockade-related five-month delay between loading the grain and delivery ‘prompted the buyer and shipper to reach an agreement to cancel the order’ As if the buyer, who was the first interested party, had suddenly discovered the delay in delivery while the world’s attention was on the boat, rumors circulated mainly about possible Russian pressure on the Lebanese buyer.
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“I don’t think it’s political pressure. The explanation is more down-to-earth,” Andrey Sizov, a consultant at SovEcon and an expert on the grain market around the Black Sea, told Le Monde. “There is a problem with the quality of the corn, which stayed in the ship’s holds for five months, while the maximum delay is one month. The corn spoils quickly, mycotoxins develop and make the batch inedible, even if the food is intended for farm animals and not for humans. Perhaps a sample has already been taken? Before leaving Black Sea waters, the Razoni was inspected jointly by the Turks and the Russians, in accordance with the tripartite agreement.
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