Demurrage costs USD 30 thou. per day for vessels awaiting JCC inspection
Currently, 77 vessels are awaiting inspection by the JCC and the ports of Big Odesa are only half utilized. This deliberate delay leads to a daily increase in losses for Ukrainian agriproducers and higher grain prices, Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov wrote on Facebook.
In November, he said, food exports through the 'grain corridor' will drop below 3 mln t as a result of russia's stalling of ship inspections.
"The teams managed 40 inspections per day, now because of russia's policy, the number of inspections per day is five times less. In October, the Grain Initiative enabled us to export 4.2 mln t of grain, in November we will hardly reach 3 mln t. At the same time, technically we can ship 6 mln t per month," Oleksandr Kubrakov stated.
The Minister added that the demurrage costs USD 30 thou. daily. Herewith, the average waiting time for inspection is 2-5 days.
"It is our strategy to speed up the inspections, as well as to include the ports of Mykolaiv region in the initiative and extend the agreement for at least 12 months. We have officially applied to the UN and Turkey to make Mykolaiv ports part of it," he marked.
On 27 November, seven vessels loaded with 248 thou. of grain (corn, barley, wheat) departed the ports of Big Odesa. 19 vessels are now being processed in Ukraine's ports. Since the start of the Black Sea Grain Initiative on 1 August, 12.2 mln t of agri-food commodities have been exported from Ukraine by more than 500 vessels.
The inclusion of the Mykolaiv Commercial Sea Port in the implementation of the 'grain deal' will only be possible after the liberation of the Kinburn Spit, says the head of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration Vitaliy Kim.
Earlier the head of Allseeds Group Viacheslav Petryshche called the work of the 'grain corridor' non-transparent and accused officials of the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority of corruption.
