Stolen Ukrainian grain was smuggled out of Crimea and ship data changed

Sevastopol announced the launch of container transportation. However, the concealment of information and sanctions cast doubt on the reality of this project.

This was reported by Krym. Realities.

The occupation authorities of the annexed Sevastopol have announced the implementation of an investment project to restore international container transportation through the seaport in Kamysheva Bay. According to the mayor of the city, Myailo Razvozhayev, a container ship has allegedly already made three test voyages on the Sevastopol-Turkey-Egypt-Sevastopol route, and the fourth voyage is scheduled for July.

By 2026, the volume of cargo transportation is planned to reach one million tons, and by 2030, it is expected to reach 250,000 sea containers annually. According to an agreement signed at the St. Petersburg Forum in June, AVAL stevedoring company is developing the infrastructure. It involves an investment of 2 billion rubles to upgrade the port and build special sites, including cold storage and customs control areas. Since 2022, the grain terminal has been used to regularly export grain from the occupied territories of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions by dry bulk cargo abroad.

Analysts have drawn attention to the fact that container ships near Crimea are changing their automatic identification data (AIS). In particular, on July 9, the ELBSAILOR flying the flag of Antigua and Barbuda was spotted in the waters off the southern coast of the peninsula, and later the MSC ELBE III flying the Portuguese flag. This may indicate spoofing, which is a prohibited substitution of ship identification data.

Since Crimean ports have been under sanctions by Ukraine and Western countries since 2014, any foreign vessels entering Sevastopol are in violation of international law. Ukraine regularly arrests ships that violate the ban - the list of such vessels already includes more than 50.

In the temporarily occupied south and east of Ukraine, the robbery of the agricultural sector has long been a systemic phenomenon. The occupation authorities have set up logistics - from confiscating crops to exporting them under the guise of their own grain. Crimean ports play a key role in this scheme.

According to a study by the Expedite Justice Project, more than 2.5 million tons of grain have been exported from the occupied territories every year since 2022 through Sevastopol, Kerch, and Feodosia. It is collected at seized Ukrainian enterprises, delivered to Crimea, and shipped by ship to Syria, Egypt, Libya, Turkey, and Yemen.

Анна Бальчінос