Mined waters raise concerns over resuming Ukraine's grain shipments

Shipping companies are not rushing to export millions of tonnes of trapped grain out of Ukraine, despite a breakthrough deal to provide safe corridors through the Black Sea. That is because explosive mines are drifting in the waters, ship owners are assessing the risks and many still have questions over how the deal will unfold.

The complexities of the agreement have set off a slow, cautious start, but it's only good for 120 days — and the clock began ticking last week.

The goal over the next four months is to get some 18 million tonnes of grain out of three Ukrainian sea ports blocked since Russia's Feb. 24 invasion. That provides time for about four to five large bulk carriers per day to transport grain from the ports to millions of impoverished people worldwide who are facing hunger.

It also provides ample time for things to go awry. Only hours after the signing Friday, Russian missiles struck Ukraine's port of Odesa — one of those included in the agreement.

Another key element of the deal offers assurances that shipping and insurers carrying Russian grain and fertilizer will not get caught in the wider net of Western sanctions. But the agreement brokered by Turkey and the UN is running up against the reality of how difficult and risky the pact will be to carry out.

"We have to work very hard to now understand the detail of how this is going to work practically," said Guy Platten, secretary general of the International Chamber of Shipping, which says it represents national ship owners' associations, accounting for about 80 per cent of the world's merchant fleet.

"Can we make sure and guarantee the safety of the crews? What's going to happen with the mines and the minefields, as well? So lots of uncertainty and unknowns at the moment," he said.

Getting wheat and other food out is critical to farmers in Ukraine, who are running out of storage capacity as they harvest their fields. Those grains are vital to millions of people in Africa, parts of the Middle East and South Asia, many of whom are already facing food shortages and, in some cases, famine.

Ukraine and Russia are key global suppliers of wheat, barley, corn and sunflower oil, with fighting in the Black Sea region, known as the "breadbasket of the world," pushing up food prices, threatening political stability in developing nations and leading countries to ban some food exports, deepening the crisis.

The deal stipulates that Russia and Ukraine will provide "maximum assurances" for ships that brave the journey through the Black Sea to the Ukrainian ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhny.

"The primary risk that's faced is obviously going to be mines," said Munro Anderson, head of intelligence and a founding partner at Dryad. The maritime security advisory company is working with insurers and brokers to assess the risks that ships could face along the route as sea mines laid by Ukraine to deter Russia are drifting.

Ship owners, charterers and insurance firms are seeking to understand how the deal will play out in real time.

"I think it's going to come [down] to the position of the marine insurers that provide war risk and how much they are going to be adding in additional charges for vessels to go into that area," said Michelle Wiese Bockmann, shipping and commodities analyst at Lloyd's List, a global shipping news publication.

Bockmann said vessels carrying this kind of load typically have between 20 to 25 seafarers on board.