A maritime humanitarian corridor in the Black Sea was set up by the Black Sea Grain Initiative—an agreement between Ukraine, Russia, Türkiye, and the UN—to allow the safe export of Ukraine’s grain and foodstuffs to the world market.

Four vessels were cleared to sail the corridor on August 7 with a total of 161,084 tonnes of foodstuffs, comprising corn, meal, and sunflower oil. A vessel was approved inbound to Ukraine over the weekend, the second such approval under the agreement. The first vessel inbound to Ukraine has since been cleared to sail after inspection.

Inbound and outbound vessels alike are subject to inspection by a team of multinational inspectors at anchorages off Türkiye to ensure the terms of the initiative are upheld.

Polarnet, Rojen and Navistar add to the list of vessels cleared to sail after inspection, carrying corn to Türkiye, the UK and Ireland, respectively.

Vessels authorised to depart on August 8 were Sacura, carrying 11,000 tonnes of soybeans from the port of Yuzhny (Pivdennyi) to Italy and Arizone, carrying 48,459 tonnes of corn to Türkiye.

Ukraine Minister for Infrastructure Alexander Kubrakov said on Facebook that Ukraine is working towards having three to five vessels transiting per day within two weeks, with a monthly transhipment of 3m tonnes of agricultural goods per month.