Agribusiness JV welcomes resumption of Ukraine grain sailings
Written by Nick Blenkey
L to R: Arsari Group CEO Hashim S. Djojohadikusumo; Ukrainian Ambassador to Indonesia Vassyl Hamianin; Harvest Commodities SA Chairman Gaurav Srivastava in a meeting in Jakarta, August 2, 2022.
In another sign that Ukrainian Black Sea port grain exports are picking up pace, Switzerland headquartered Harvest Commodities reported today that its ship, M/V Riva Wind, had departed from the Port of Odesa, Ukraine, with 50,000 tons of grain, and that a second ship, M/V Arizona, had left the Port of Chornomorsk, Ukraine with 55,000 tons of grain. The grain belongs to a joint venture between Harvest Commodities SA and Indonesia’s Arsari Group. The joint venture is through Indonesia’s PT Comexindo International.
Two additional ships are picking up grain owned by Harvest Commodities from Novorossiysk, Russia — the M/V Shark with 25,000 tons of grain and the M/V Bronco with 10,000 tons of grain.
The Riva Wind and Arizona are among the first to leave Ukrainian Black Sea ports since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 2022.
The first ship to sail under the UN sponsored deal brokered by Turkey, the Razoni was successfully inspected by the Black Sea Grain Initiative Joint Coordination Center (JCC) in Istanbul after sailing from Odesa, August 1.
As we reported on August 5, this led the JCC to greenlight the departures of three more ships and to allow a fourth ship to make a port call in Ukraine.
Tweets from the Turkish Ministry of National Defense indicate that all four of those ships have now successfully completed JCC inspections.
TIRELESS EFFORTS
Harvest Commodities says the safe passage of its ships was made possible as a result of the tireless efforts and agreement between the United States, Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish and Indonesian governments, as well as the United Nations.
“I would like to congratulate the collaboration among the leadership of the United States, Russia, Ukraine, Indonesia and Türkiye (formerly known as Turkey) for finding enough common ground so that they have an aligned vision to alleviate the global food shortage,” said Gaurav Srivastava, chairman of Harvest Commodities SA. “I hope this can be a first step toward deescalation of the conflict”
THANKS TO SEAFARERS
“I also especially want to thank the captains and crews of both ships, who have been waiting on their ships since February 2022 in Ukraine,” said Srivastava. “Getting the ships out of the Odesa Harbor, which has been heavily mined, is an act of great bravery and skill.”
