First Ukraine grain deal ship docks in Turkey after Lebanese buyer refused delivery

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – The first grain ship to depart from Ukraine under a U.N.-brokered deal docked in Turkey on Thursday after 11 days at sea, Refinitiv data showed, and the ship’s agent in Turkey said it would continue to Egypt after unloading part of its cargo.

The Razoni set sail from Ukraine’s Odesa port on Aug. 1 under a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey between Russia and Ukraine. Eleven other ships have left since then.

While the Razoni was initially headed to Lebanon’s Tripoli, Ukraine’s embassy in the country said the buyer had refused delivery due to a five-month delay and the ship was looking for a new customer.

The ship, which had since been at anchor off Turkey’s southern coast, entered the port in Mersin Thursday afternoon, Refinitiv ship tracker data showed.

Kadir Soyer, agency director at Mersin-based shipping agent Toros, said the ship would offload 1,500 tonnes of corn in Turkey and later continue to Egypt with the rest of its 26,527-tonne load.

“1,500 tonnes will be offloaded in Mersin and the rest will go to Egypt,” he told Reuters via phone.

Toros was only handling the docking and offloading in Turkey and would not be involved in the ship’s trip to Egypt, he said.

(Reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen; Editing by Mark Potter)