Istanbul, Aug 7 (IANS): A second ship carrying Ukrainian grain exports has been inspected off Istanbul and is now cleared to proceed through the Bosporus Strait to its final destination, the Turkish Defence Ministry said.
The Navi Star, sailing under the flag of Panama and carrying 33,000 tonnes of maize, is bound for Ireland after checks by an international team from Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the UN, reports dpa news agency.
The Navi Star is one of the three vessels that left Ukraine's Black Sea ports of Odesa on Friday, after an agreement that has been widely hailed as a sign of hope in the conflict.
The initial three vessels are reportedly carrying 57,000 tonnes of maize in total.
Last week, the first grain cargo ship to leave a Ukrainian port since the Russian invasion in February, the Razoni, was inspected in Istanbul, before proceeding to the Lebanese port of Tripoli.
Under the deal agreed in July to lift Russia's months-long blockade of the ports, Ukraine pledged to guide the ships through waters that have been mined and Moscow promised to not target the ships and certain port infrastructure.
The deal's brokers, the UN and Turkey, are helping safely coordinate the exports and monitoring the shipments to make sure the vessels are not smuggling weapons into the war zone.
The shipments are seen as essential for stabilizing grain prices on global markets amid fears of famine in the Middle East and Africa.
Experts, however, warned shipping the millions of tonnes of blockaded grain from Ukrainian ports in time is barely possible as the new harvest begins.
There are growing calls for alternative export routes to be found as a return to pre-war levels of Ukrainian exports remains challenging despite the re-opening of maritime routes.
Ukraine, known as the breadbasket of Europe, was the world's largest exporter of sunflower oil; the third largest exporter of rapeseed and barley; the fourth largest exporter of maize; and the fifth largest exporter of wheat before Russia began its ongoing invasion in February.