U-grain : Robin des Bois keeps a close watch (continued)

As of December 18, 2022, 563 ship departures from the Ukrainian ports of Chornomorsk, Odessa and Yuzhny have enabled the export of 14,194,211 tons of agricultural produce under the Agreement of July 22, 2022 between the United Nations, Ukraine, Russia and Turkey. The European Union (6,251,402 t), China (1,876,057 t) and Turkey (1,831,283 t) are the main importers. Intended to fight the global rise in foodstuff prices, the Agreement will also serve to fight thirst and beer shortages with the export of more than 600,000 tons of barley.

The Aqua Star, port of Sevastopol (Ukraine), December 2010. © A.Kolomatchenko
Extract from “Shipbreaking” #39, p. 34, the bulletin of information and analysis on end of life ships published by par Robin des Bois.

Flags
During these 563 voyages, ships were flying 33 different flags. 66 voyages (12%) have been carried on under the flag of an EU Member State: Bulgaria (1), Croatia (1), Portugal (2), Greece (4) and Malta (58).

The other flags were those of Liberia (108), of Panama (87), of the Marshall Islands (65), of Barbados (41), of Palau (29), of Comoros (26), of Türkiye (19), of Vanuatu (16), of Belize (14), of the Cook Islands and of St Vincent and the Grenadines (12) , of Sierra Leone and Togo (10), of the Bahamas (9), of Hong Kong and of Tanzania (6), of Singapore  and of St. Kitts and Nevis (5), of Norway (4), of Cameroon, of China and of Equatorial Guinea (3), of the Cayman Islands, of Lebanon, of Honduras and of Ukraine (2), of Thailand and of Tuvalu (1).

The 4 most used flags, i.e. Liberia, Panama, Marshall Islands and Malta, accounted for 63% of ships.
39 voyages were carried on by ships flying the flags of Comoros, Togo and Cameroon, three flags blacklisted by Paris Memorandum of Understanding.
34 ships out of the 44 stuck in Ukraine since the beginning of the war (February 24, 2022) were able to leave to carry agricultural cargoes.

Age
The average age of ships used under the Agreement is 19 years. The youngest ones were the Turkish general cargo ship Rahmi Yagci immobilized in Chornomorsk and the Turkish tanker Alsu  used to carry vegetable oil; they both started trading in 2022. The oldest ones were the general cargo ships Ghada A and Millac, aged 50. 17 ships were over 40 years old.

The average age of EU-flagged ships was 15 years. That of ships flying a Paris MoU-blacklisted flag was 33 years.

77 ships were over 30 years old.

Substandard ships
Several general cargo ships  have to be distinguished:
– the Zelek Star, 17 years old, Panamanian flag, 15 detentions between 2009 and 2022. She departed with 3,700 t of peas bound for Türkiye.
– the Millac, 50 years old, Comoros flag, detained in Galati (Romania) in July 2022 with 16 deficiencies. She departed with 6,000 tons of wheat bound for Türkiye.
– the Ghada A, 50 years old, Togolese flag, 8 detentions since 2013. She departed with 5,230 tons of barley bound for Jordan.
– the Baron, 48 years old, Equatorial Guinean flag. She departed with 5,750 tons of corn bound for Türkiye.
– the Sealock, 37 years old, Togolese flag, 10 detentions between 2000 and 2020. She sailed twice to Türkiye with 2,070 tons then 2,050 tons of peas.
– the Kubrosli Y, 41 years old, Comoros flag. Her classification society  Register of Shipping reported her as to be broken up (“sold for recycling”) in March 2021 but she has actually kept on trading. She sailed twice to Türkiye with 11,000 tons of wheat then 11,000 tons of peas.
– the Sara, 19 years old, Palau flag, banned in September 2019 from entering Paris MoU ports for 3 months. She sailed three times to Türkiye with 8,000 tons of corn, then 6,000 tons of wheat then 6,000 tons of soya beans.

Destinations
Cargoes exported from Ukraine were officially delivered to 42 countries.
They belong to the UN regional groups as defined by the UN classification:
– Africa (10 countries): Algeria, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Morocco, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia.
– Asia-Pacific (18 countries): Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Türkiye, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Yemen.
– Eastern Europe (3 countries): Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania.
– Western Europe and Others (11 countries): Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, United Kingdom, Spain.

Spain is the number one destination ahead of China, Türkiye and two other EU member-States, Italy and The Netherlands. This Top 5 accounts for 59% of Ukrainian exports.

High income countries as defined by UN received 51% of the exported tonnages: Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Oman, The Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom.

Most of the tonnage received by these countries (87%) were delivered to 11 EU-Member States (Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain).

Within the European Union, Spain, Italy and The Netherlands account for 75% of this tonnage. Overall, the European Union received 44% of the agricultural produce tonnage exported from Ukraine.

Produce
Corn (43%) and wheat (29%) account for nearly 75% of the agricultural produce exported under the Agreement. The others are sunflower as meal and seeds (7%) or oil (6%), rapeseed as meal and seeds (7%), barley (5%), soya beans (2%) and soya oil, peas, sugar beet pellets and bran.

High income countries absorbed 93% of the rapeseed tonnage, 61% of the corn tonnage, 56% of the barley tonnage.

Low or middle income countries as defined by UN were delivered 64% of the wheat tonnage.