The first loaded container ship to use Ukraine's new Black Sea corridor departed the port of Odesa on Wednesday, in a test of Russia's threat to attack shipping after it broke off a key wartime deal last month allowing exports of Ukrainian grain.
The departure of the Hong-Kong-flagged Joseph Schulte, which had been stranded at the port since Feb. 23, 2022 – the day before Russia's invasion – followed the latest in a string of Russian attacks on Ukraine's grain export infrastructure.
Russian airstrikes damaged grain silos, warehouses and ports along the Danube River that Ukraine has increasingly relied on as an alternative transport route to Europe, the governor of the Odesa region said, releasing photos showing destroyed storage facilities and piles of scattered grain and sunflowers.
Ukraine's economy, crunched by the war, is heavily dependent on farming. Its agricultural exports, like those of Russia, are also crucial for world supplies of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other food that developing nations rely on.
A month ago, the Kremlin tore up an agreement brokered last summer by the U.N. and Türkiye to ensure safe Ukraine grain exports through the Black Sea. Since then, Kyiv has sought to reroute transport through the Danube and road and rail links into Europe. But transport costs that way are much higher, some European countries have balked at the consequences for local grain prices, and the Danube ports can't handle the same volume as seaports.
Odesa Governor Oleh Kiper said the primary targets of Russia's overnight drone bombardment were port terminals and grain silos, including at the ports in the Danube delta. Air defenses managed to intercept 13 drones over the Odesa and Mykolaiv regions, according to the Ukraine Air Force's morning update.
Benchmark Chicago wheat futures were up about 1% after the news broke on Wednesday morning, adding to a slight earlier gain as they recovered from a two-month low on Tuesday.
It was the latest attack amid weeks of aerial strikes as Russia has targeted the Danube delta ports, which are only about 15 kilometers (10 miles) from the Romanian border. The Danube is Europe's second-longest river and a key transport route.
Since pulling out of the grain deal in mid-July, Russia has threatened to treat any ships leaving Ukraine as potential military targets. On Sunday it fired warning shots at a ship traveling toward Ukraine.
Despite the threats, Ukraine last week announced a "humanitarian corridor" in the Black Sea to release cargo ships that have been trapped in its ports, pledging full transparency to make clear they were serving no military purpose.
"A first vessel used the temporary corridor for merchant ships to/from the ports of Big Odesa," Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Facebook.
It marked the first vessel to set sail since July 16, according to Kubrakov.
Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM), which owns the ship jointly with a Chinese bank, confirmed that the ship was en route to Istanbul.
The vessel was traveling down a temporary corridor that Ukraine asked the International Maritime Organization to ratify. The United States has warned that the Russian military is preparing for possible attacks on civilian shipping vessels in the Black Sea.
Sea mines also make the voyage risky, and ship insurance costs are likely to be high for operators. Ukraine told the IMO it would "provide guarantees of compensation for damage."
Analysts say Black Sea shipping has in general remained steady since the end of the grain deal, despite higher insurance rates, but shipments out of Ukraine have dropped off.
Ship-tracking data analyzed by The Associated Press (AP) confirmed that the Joseph Schulte was steaming south.
It was carrying more than 30,000 metric tons of cargo in 2,114 containers, Kubrakov said.
He informed that the corridor would be primarily used to evacuate ships stuck in the Ukrainian ports of Chornomorsk, Odesa and Pivdennyi since the outbreak of war.
Moscow has not indicated whether it would respect the shipping corridor, and shipping and insurance sources have expressed concerns about safety.
Ukraine is a major grain and oilseeds exporter and the United Nations says its supplies are vital to developing countries where hunger is a growing concern.
Neither Kubrakov nor the shipping company specified the cargo on board the Joseph Schulte, but grain is rarely carried in containers.
Ukraine turned to its Danube ports after Russia pulled out of the grain deal seeking better terms for exports of its own food and fertilizer.
The river ports, which had accounted for around a quarter of grain exports, have since become the main route out for Ukrainian grain, which is also sent on barges to Romania's Black Sea port of Constanta for shipment onwards.
Earlier this month, Russia attacked Izmail – Ukraine's main inland port across the Danube from Romania, sending global food prices higher as it ramped up its use of force to prevent Ukraine from exporting grain.
A Russian warship on Sunday fired warning shots at a cargo ship in the southwestern Black Sea as it made its way northwards, the first time Russia has fired on merchant shipping beyond Ukraine since exiting the grain deal.
According to Russia's Defense Ministry, the Sukru Okan was heading northwards to the Ukrainian Danube River port of Izmail.
Moscow said the ship's captain had failed to respond to a request to halt for an inspection. Kyiv said the incident was a gross violation of international law and "exemplified Russia's deliberate policy of endangering the freedom of navigation and safety of commercial shipping in the Black Sea."
Türkiye, which brokered the grain deal alongside the United Nations, has expressed hope that Russia will rejoin it this month.
A senior U.N. official emphasized that the deal was vital to stabilizing food prices on global markets to protect the most vulnerable, saying all efforts were being made to restart it.
"It's difficult," Rebeca Grynspan, secretary-general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, told a news conference in Nairobi. "And obviously the bombardment of or shelling of grain infrastructure is not helping the markets."
