Arrangements for ships headed to Ukraine still not ready, Lloyd's official says

"The standard operating procedures for vessels still need to be worked out and there are issues about crewing that still need to be resolved," Roberts said. The Sierra Leone-flagged ship Razoni carrying grain left the Ukrainian port of Odesa for Lebanon earlier on Monday under a safe passage agreement, Ukrainian and Turkish officials said, the first departure since the Russian invasion blocked shipping through the Black Sea five months ago.

Key arrangements including procedures for ships still need to be worked out before empty vessels can come in and pick up cargoes from Ukraine using the new grains corridor, a senior London marine insurance market official said on Monday.

"The standard operating procedures for vessels still need to be worked out and there are issues about crewing that still need to be resolved," Neil Roberts, head of marine and aviation with the Lloyd's Market Association, told Reuters. "There is some way to go," said Roberts, whose association represents the interests of all underwriting businesses in the Lloyd's of London insurance market.

Turkish, Russian and Ukrainian military officials, working with a U.N. team, have set up a Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) in Istanbul to enable food and fertiliser to be transported by merchant ships from Odesa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhny - three key Black Sea Ukrainian ports. Ships going in to collect grain will need to be inspected by the JCC at a Turkish port, unlike vessels already in Ukrainian ports that are waiting to leave.

"The new ships present a different set of logistical challenges and this will take some days. This is something the JCC Istanbul is still wrestling with," Roberts said. "There needs to be patience to await developments as this is still a live conflict."

Shipping companies and the insurers that cover vessels need to be assured that the journey is secure with no threat of mines or attacks to both the ships and their crews. These are typically covered in accepted maritime practices known as standard operating procedures. "The standard operating procedures for vessels still need to be worked out and there are issues about crewing that still need to be resolved," Roberts said.

The Sierra Leone-flagged ship Razoni carrying grain left the Ukrainian port of Odesa for Lebanon earlier on Monday under a safe passage agreement, Ukrainian and Turkish officials said, the first departure since the Russian invasion blocked shipping through the Black Sea five months ago. The vessel had been inside Ukraine for some months. "It remains a case of steady but cautious progress," Roberts said of the Razoni departure.