The Razoni, the first ship to depart Ukraine under an U.N.-brokered deal, is looking for another port to unload its grain cargo as the initial Lebanese buyer refused delivery citing a more than five-month delay, Embassy of Ukraine in Lebanon said on Monday.
“According to the information provided by the shipper of the Ukrainian grain aboard the Razoni, the buyer in Lebanon refused to accept the cargo due to delays in delivery terms,” the embassy said in a Facebook post.
“So the shipper is now looking for another consignee to offload his cargo either in Lebanon/Tripoli or any other country/port.”
The Razoni left Odesa last week carrying 26,527 tonnes of corn. The ship was scheduled to arrive in Lebanon on Sunday but it changed its destination to Turkey’s Mersin port and is currently at anchor off Turkey’s southern coast, according to Refinitiv ship tracker data.
The United Nations and Turkey brokered the agreement last month after warnings the halt in Ukrainian grain shipments caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could lead to severe food shortages and even outbreaks of famine in parts of the world.
So far, around 243,000 tonnes of corn has been exported from Ukraine on seven ships since the first departure on Aug. 1, according to a Reuters tally of data from Turkey’s defence ministry.