The ship “Josef Schulte”, which left the port of Odessa, is operated by the German company Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM).
Via Telegram, MP Olexiy Honcharenko announced that a container ship had just left the port of Odessa. This freighter had been in port since the beginning of the Russian invasion in February 2022 as the German news platform tagesschau.de reported.
Last week, Ukraine announced the creation of a “humanitarian corridor” in the Black Sea to allow cargo ships to leave the country that have been stuck in ports since the war began. According to Ukrainian authorities, grain shipments will also pass through this corridor. However, Russia has declared ships en route to and from Ukrainian ports to be potential targets. In addition, the Russian military has increasingly attacked Ukrainian ports and grain silos. Last month, the Russian government rejected an extension of the grain agreement with Ukraine.
The “Josef Schulte”, which sails under the flag of Hong Kong, was stuck in the Ukrainian port city since February 23, 2022. The ship belongs to a Chinese bank and the Hamburg company Bernhard Schulte, as reported by BSM. According to Ukraine, it carries more than 2100 containers with about 30,000 tons of cargo.
Image: Kremlin.ru, Vladimir Putin at the site Donguzsky (2015-09-19) 10.jpg, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (image size changed)