Like many other ships, the “Joseph Schulte” has been stuck in Odessa, Ukraine, since the outbreak of war. The container ship is now on its way home to Hamburg.
After leaving Ukrainian waters, the German freighter “Joseph Schulte” continued its voyage across the Black Sea on Thursday. The ship is expected in Istanbul in the evening, said a spokeswoman for Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) in Hamburg. The container freighter left the Ukrainian port of Odessa the day before and was the first to use a sea corridor for merchant ships designated by Ukraine.
Nothing is known of incidents on the journey, the spokeswoman said. Russia threatens Ukraine’s shores and potentially views ships bound for Ukraine as enemy arms shipments. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the voyage of the “Joseph Schulte” an “important step towards restoring freedom of navigation in the Black Sea”.
According to Ukrainian information, civilian ships navigate the established corridor at their own risk. In the case of the German freighter flying the Hong Kong flag, the shipping company made sure that passage was possible in many directions. On Wednesday evening the ship left Ukrainian territorial waters and entered Romanian territory.
The “Joseph Schulte” has been stuck in Odessa since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. In the nearly 18 months since then, the 300-meter-long ship has been serviced by a Ukrainian core crew.
Source: Stern
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