The arrival in Lebanon, scheduled for Sunday, of the first bulk carrier to leave Ukraine, under a war agreement, has been postponed, the Lebanese government and the Ukrainian Embassy in the country reported.
According to the Associated Press (AP) news agency, the cause of the delay is still unclear, and the Marine Traffic website, which monitors ship traffic and the location of ships at sea, showed the Razoni, with the flag of Serra Lioness, anchored. in the Mediterranean Sea, near Turkey.
Lebanese Transport Minister Ali Hamie said via Twitter that the ship “rumored to arrive at the port of Tripoli, Lebanon” has changed its ‘status’.
Questioned by the AP, the official declined to comment further on the matter.
The Razoni ship left Odessa on Monday with Ukrainian corn and was due to arrive at the northern port of Tripoli around 10:00 am (local time, less than an hour in Lisbon) today.
According to Marine Traffic, on Saturday, the ship changed its ‘status’ to ‘order’, meaning it is waiting for someone to buy the corn.
Ukraine’s embassy in Beirut said the ship’s arrival was delayed, adding that more information will be provided when “the exact day and time of the ship’s arrival” is known.
Lebanon is being affected by a food security crisis, due to high price inflation and a shortage of wheat.
The Razoni transports around 26,000 tons of corn to feed the chickens.
The ship was the first to leave Ukraine, under a deal brokered by Turkey and the United Nations, with Russia and Ukraine, to create safe shipping corridors in the Black Sea for exporting agricultural products from Ukraine.
Lebanon’s worst economic crisis in modern history, which began in late 2019, has left three-quarters of the population in poverty, while the Lebanese pound has lost more than 90% of its value.
The economic collapse, rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement, was compounded by a massive explosion in August 2020 that destroyed Beirut’s port and the country’s main grain silos.
Lebanese officials said last week that Razoni was supposed to leave Ukraine on February 24, but the departure was delayed by the war that broke out days later.
On Friday, three more ships with thousands of tons of corn left Ukrainian ports, and four more ships with detained agricultural cargo today received authorization to leave the country’s ports.
Source: TSF
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
