LONDON/ATHENS (Reuters) – Over 15 international locations have known as for a particular meeting with the UN’s shipping company to debate the security of ships and their crews crusing by way of the Black Sea and Sea of Azov after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and rising dangers to vessels.
Many shipping companies have suspended sailings to affected Black Sea ports and different terminals in Ukraine. Insurance premiums for voyages have soared since Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, an motion Moscow calls a “particular operation”.
An Estonian-owned cargo ship sank on Thursday off Ukraine’s main Black Sea port of Odessa, hours after a Bangladeshi vessel was hit by a missile or bomb at one other port. This adopted at the least three different ships being hit by projectiles in current days.
Australia, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Sweden, Turkey, Britain and the United States collectively known as for the meeting, which can be backed by Ukraine, based on officers concerned and a public doc.
A spokesperson for the International Maritime Organization, which has 175 member states and three affiliate members and tasked with security and safety of worldwide shipping, had no instant remark.
Greek vessels haven’t been attacked to this point, a Greek shipping ministry official stated, including that at the least 5 Greek-flagged ships with 39 Greek nationals have been nonetheless within the space, the official stated.
“We are in shut contact with the captains of the Greek and Greek-owned vessels which have Greek crews crusing within the Black Sea,” Greece’s Shipping Minister Ioannis Plakiotakis stated individually.
On Wednesday the International Transport Workers’ Federation union and different our bodies designated sections of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov as “warlike operations areas”, which entitles seafarers to refuse to sail to the area amongst different rights.
(Reporting by Jonathan Saul in London and Renee Maltezou in Athens; Editing by David Gregorio)
