Ship with Ukrainian grain arrives in Albania

The ship Jaohar Ranim left the Ukrainian port of Izmail on July 28 and arrived in Albania on Wednesday morning, Albanian news website Exit News reported.

This was the first cargo ship to arrive in Albania from Ukraine since the beginning of Russia's military operation.

Albania had problems with finding a replacement for the Ukrainian grain and continued to import it from Russia and Serbia.

Many local bakeries had to close due to the rising prices, the report said.

Ukraine hopes to export 20 million tonnes of grain from reserves and 40 million tonnes from the new harvest and make $10 billion in profits, an economic adviser to the Ukrainian president, Oleh Ustenko, said.

He said the export would take eight to nine months if the UN-brokered grain deal functions properly and up to 24 months if the grain deal fails.

On July 22, Russia and Ukraine had signed a UN and Turkey brokered initiative to provide a humanitarian maritime corridor for ships with food and fertilizer exports from Black Sea ports.

Three key Ukrainian ports – Odessa, Chornomorsk, and Yuzhne – were unblocked to resume exports.

A joint coordination centre was set up to monitor the implementation of the initiative, including ensuring that cargo ships do not carry unauthorized goods or personnel.