It has not arrived at its destination and may never reach Lebanese shores.
The "Razoni", the first cargo ship carrying grain to have left the port of Odessa - on August 1 - since the start of the war in Ukraine, is off Alexandretta, in southern Turkey.
Expected Sunday, August 7 in Tripoli (Lebanon), this ship carrying 26,500 tons of corn finally changed course at the last minute.
"Its owner informed me that he was no longer going to the port of Tripoli," said Ahmad Tamer, the director of the Lebanese port interviewed by Les Echos.
- © Graphic studio France Media World
Cargo test for Ukrainian exports
A disappointment for the Ukrainian authorities who wanted to make this first delivery a symbol of the beginning of a return to normal trade.
The Ukrainian embassy in Beirut, which had invited the press to celebrate the arrival of the "Razoni", had to send an urgent message to postpone the ceremony to a later date.
The fate of the "Razoni" is closely followed by the international community.
Especially since there are four other cargo ships which left Ukrainian ports on Sunday August 7, and a dozen others still have to get under way.
The safe arrival of the precious cargo of the "Razoni" is considered a first test for the respect of an agreement between Turkey, the UN, Russia and Ukraine on maritime transport in the Black Sea.
Concluded on July 22, it provides for a gradual and internationally monitored resumption of grain exports from several Ukrainian ports even as the war continues to rage with Russia, which holds military control of the Black Sea.
>> To read also: "The resumption of grain exports is a "relief for the world", according to kyiv"
This resumption of the delivery of Ukrainian cereals is considered vital in a context of soaring food prices and shortages in several countries.
Ukraine, one of the main granaries in the world, thus provides, for example, 25% of Lebanon's cereal needs, in particular for animal feed, recalls Les Echos.
The corn transported by the "Razoni" was also officially intended to feed chickens farmed in Lebanon, underlines the Washington Post.
On Wednesday, the cargo ship had passed the examinations carried out in Istanbul by Ukrainian, Turkish and Russian representatives without concern.
Mystery and corn ball
It wasn't until three days later that the ship decided it could finally sail to new horizons.
The status of the "Razoni" then suddenly changed on commercial cargo tracking sites - such as VesselFinder - from "en route to" to "awaiting orders".
This change not only means that its final destination is no longer known, but also that the buyer of the cargo has or may change, notes the Washington Post.
"The goods will be put up for sale to those who wish to buy them, not necessarily in Lebanon", confirmed to Echos Ahmad Tamer, the director of the port of Tripoli.
In fact, this impromptu change of program makes it possible to take the full measure of the vagueness which surrounds these highly mediatised first Ukrainian corn exports.
It is therefore not even certain that the ship had a buyer for its cargo when it left Odessa.
“Sometimes these ships are heading to a geographical area where they know there will be buyers and then wait for offers,” said George Kiourktsoglou, specialist in maritime trade security at the University of Greenwich.
Moreover, the identity or even the nationality of the owner of the cargo is not even known.
The only information we have is that the captain and part of the crew are Syrian, that the ship flies the flag of Sierra Leone and that it is operated by a company - Razoni Shipping LTD - registered in Monrovia, the capital. from Liberia.
It is therefore an incredible "imbroglio" according to Les Échos, or an "enigma" for the German daily Tagesschau, which surrounds this cargo ship.
But that's not unusual.
On the contrary, it is not uncommon to encounter vessels flying a flag of convenience – an expression used when States allow a vessel to be registered on their territory when the owner is not a resident of the country – "which change one or multiple buyers along the way," said Stavros Karamperidis, director of the shipping research group at the University of Plymouth.
Soaring food prices
This is all the more common with goods subject to large price fluctuations, such as oil or foodstuffs such as cereals.
The "Razoni" was supposed to leave the port of Odessa on February 24, when the war in Ukraine began.
The spike in food prices, partly due to the blockade of Ukrainian ports, had not yet occurred.
The owner of the freighter may have wanted to take advantage of it.
This does not mean that the original buyer has no protection against the greed of the seller.
"There is always an agreement that binds the parties, but still it is necessary to know what it contains", specifies George Kiourktsoglou.
The terms of such a contract may allow the seller to be released, under certain conditions, from its initial obligations.
There may, for example, be a clause stipulating that if the price increase exceeds a certain threshold, the owner of the cargo may put all or part of the goods back on sale.
And even if there is a penalty for breaking the contract, "it may be that the profit made thanks to the price increase is such that the seller will prefer to pay the penalty for breaking the contract," said George Kiourktsoglou.
It is also possible that the change of route of the "Razoni" responds to geopolitical considerations, notes the expert from the University of Greenwich.
The war in Ukraine has changed the game of alliances, and depending on the nationality of the seller, the latter may want to favor certain customers.
Especially for commodities currently as valuable as cereals.
But for that, "we would have to know who is the real owner of this cargo", estimates George Kiourktsoglou.
According to the experts interviewed, however, it is a safe bet that despite all the media spotlight on this ship, the identities of the sellers and buyers remain a secret.
Its final destination will probably be known thanks to the many sites that monitor the comings and goings of cargo ships.
But it may not be that of the cargo.
"We have no idea how far the cargo will be transported, whether it will be resold en route, consumed in the country of destination or re-exported", summarizes Ismini Palla, communication officer of the Coordination Center joint of Ukrainian exports.
Instead of symbolizing the resumption of Ukrainian exports, the route of the "Razoni" illustrates above all, according to George Kiourktsoglou, to what extent "maritime trade represents the jungle of modern capitalism".
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