Bloomberg: Turkey restricts ship traffic to Black Sea due to high number of attacks

Turkey has temporarily restricted the movement of some commercial vessels to the Black Sea due to a large number of attacks.

This is reported by Bloomberg, citing sources.

According to the sources, the Turkish General Directorate of Coast Guard has informed several ships heading to Russiaʼs Novorossiysk, an important port for oil and grain exports, that it is currently not issuing permits to pass through the Dardanelles or needs more time to process applications.

Individual vessels have been told that the delays also apply to vessels bound for Ukraine. The Turkish authorities have not officially explained the reasons for this decision. However, the restrictions do not appear to apply to vessels bound for Bulgaria, Romania, Georgia and Turkey.

According to Bloomberg, such vessels continued to pass north through the Dardanelles on Saturday. Ankaraʼs decision came amid a series of attacks on civilian vessels in the Black Sea, including those belonging to Turkey.

The new delays could further complicate global trade, as oil and other cargo flows are already being disrupted by the war with Iran, and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is also shrinking.

• Earlier this week, the Turkish Foreign Ministry reported that two Turkish ships were hit by drone attacks, following another Turkish ship attack near Novorossiysk, Russia, last month.

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