Turkey Refuses to Allow Ship Carrying Stolen Ukrainian Grain to Dock; Ship Loiters at Sea

The ship was loitering near the Turkish-Syrian maritime boundary, near Latakia or Tartus.

Following diplomatic pressure from Kyiv, the government of Turkey has refused to allow a Greek bulker carrying allegedly stolen grain from Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine to enter port. This is the second time public criticism has prompted the ship to move on; in April, Israeli importers refused to take delivery of the cargo, forcing the vessel to seek another place to offload.

According to the Center for Transport Strategies (CFTS), this was reported by The Maritime Executive.

The Panormitis (IMO 9445021) loaded a cargo of grain somewhere near Novorossiysk in April (AIS-dark periods and GPS disruption make her movements ambiguous) and headed for Israel, arriving in Haifa on 26 April.

This was the second ship carrying stolen Ukrainian grain to market in Israel within a month, and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha summoned the Israeli ambassador to lodge a formal complaint. On 30 April, Israel’s Grain Importers Association announced that the ship would not be unloading because the importer in question had rejected the cargo.

“The Russian supplier of the cargo will have to find an alternative destination to unload it,” the association told the Jerusalem Post.

According to the Israeli publication Haaretz, the Russian export system for ex-Ukrainian wheat involves ship-to-ship transfers conducted in the open waters of the Black Sea. Shuttle vessels move grain from Sevastopol and other Russian-occupied loading ports to a designated granary ship, which then trans-loads the grain onto reputable internationally trading bulk carriers, which carry it to market. Some of these bulk carriers appear to load and depart without ever calling at a Russian-controlled port.

Following the rejection of the cargo at Haifa, the Panormitis sailed north to nearby Iskenderun, Turkey, arriving on 13 May. Ankara appears to have denied her request to enter the port, and she departed overnight on Saturday without ever reaching a berth. As of Monday, AIS data (provided by Pole Star Global) showed that she was loitering near the Turkish-Syrian maritime boundary, within easy reach of Latakia or Tartus.

According to the publication Türkiye Today, Syria has historically been a leading destination market for Ukrainian grain sold by Russian exporters, and it continues to be the top consumer of these grey-market cargoes, despite the recent change of government in Damascus.