Attacks on civilian vessels in the Black Sea were the result of many years of impunity, — Ivanov

Russian attacks on civilian ships in the Black Sea were a natural result of the long-standing lack of an effective international response to attacks on merchant shipping.

This opinion was expressed by the co-founder and director of B.G. Shipping Gennady Ivanov.

According to him, the problem was formed gradually – from pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden and the Gulf of Guinea to missile attacks on merchant ships near Yemen, Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and incidents in the Strait of Hormuz. At the same time, Ivanov notes, the international reaction was mostly limited to statements of “deep concern”.

Separately, he recalled that in the first days of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, several foreign merchant ships were hit in Ukrainian waters, and later there were new attacks on ships under load in Ukrainian ports. In his opinion, these incidents also did not receive an adequate response from the international maritime community.

Read also: Suspension of the ports of Great Odesa. What market participants expect and how they are adapting

Ivanov believes that currently Ukraine is actually left alone with the problem of shipping safety in the Black Sea, and no international maritime organization has demonstrated the ability to really influence the situation.

At the same time, according to the co-founder of B.G. Shipping, even in the event of a prolonged disruption of Ukrainian maritime exports, the global grain and freight market is likely to adapt at the expense of other exporters and restructuring of logistics routes, although part of the fleet that operated in the Ukrainian direction may leave the market.

Earlier, USM reported that the attacks on the ports of Great Odesa have actualized the issue of military risks in maritime contracts.