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A ship with 3,300 tons of Ukrainian corn was stranded after running aground off the Turkish coast.
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The Lady Zehma became grounded after rudder failure, per Reuters, leading to shipping being paused.
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It’s one of 68 ships to have left Ukraine as part of an UN-brokered deal to protect food exports.
A ship carrying about 3,300 tons of Ukrainian corn was stranded for almost six hours after running aground outside a busy shipping port, Reuters first reported.
On Thursday, the 173-meter Lady Zehma became grounded after suffering a rudder failure near Bebek, outside Istanbul in Turkey, per the news agency.
The rudder failure occurred around 6 p.m. GMT and efforts to salvage the ship began about three hours later. The ship was then towed to Istanbul where it dropped anchor at about 23.30 GMT, said Tribeca Shipping agency, which manages services into Turkish ports, Reuters reported.
The ship’s movements are being closely monitored by the United Nations as part of an agreement between Russia and Ukraine in July to restart exports from Black Sea ports that stopped following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine — often referred to as Europe’s bread basket — accounted for roughly 10% of global wheat and about 15% of corn production between 2018 and 2020 according to the International Food Policy Research Institute. There are continued concerns about the impact of the war on global food stocks.
Lady Zehma departed Chornomorsk on August 30, according to Vesselfinder. The UN’s Black Sea Grain Joint Coordination Centre, the body monitoring the vessel, said it’s carrying 3,000 tonnes of corn and is destined for Ravenna, Italy, per Reuters. It is still anchored in Istanbul, according to Vesselfinder.
Maritime traffic was suspended through the Istanbul strait but has resumed following the ship’s rescue, per TRT World television.
As of Thursday, 68 vessels had left Ukrainian ports carrying almost 1.7. million tonnes of grain and other food supplies, according to the Black Sea Grain Joint Coordination Centre.
Lady Zehma is not the first to run into problems. In August the Razoni, one of the first ships to leave Ukraine under the agreement, was temporarily stranded off the Turkish coast after its initial buyer rejected its cargo.
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