A container ship left the Russian-blocked Ukrainian major Black Sea port of Odesa on Wednesday morning, Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksiy Honcharenko said.
"A container ship has left the port of Odesa right now. It stayed in Odesa since Feb. 22, 2022. The vessel is 300 metres long, 48 meters wide, and has a displacement of 110,000 tons," the lawmaker said on the Telegram messaging app.
Ukraine last week announced a "humanitarian corridor" in the Black Sea to release cargo ships that have been trapped in its ports since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
The Joseph Schulte vessel departed the Ukrainian port of Odesa and is en route to Istanbul, Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) said on Wednesday.
The vessel, jointly owned by a Chinese bank and Bernhard Schulte, is using the established corridor and is travelling via territorial waters of Ukraine, Romania and Turkey "to allow for a safe passage of southbound vessels", BSM said in a statement.