Around 25,000 tonnes of sunflower oil belonging to agricultural holding Kernel and a US company that stored its own oil at the facility were damaged as a result of the Russian strike on an oil transshipment terminal in Odessa region on July 14, the company’s press service reported.
The fire was contained and extinguished within 12 hours thanks to the joint efforts of employees at Kernel’s port facilities, units of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, and assistance from neighboring terminals.
According to the company, these efforts prevented the fire from spreading to other facilities and avoided a spill of sunflower oil into the Black Sea waters.
As reported earlier, on the morning of July 14, a Russian drone attacked Kernel’s vegetable oil transshipment terminal in Odessa region. It was the third attack on the company’s port assets in four days. No employees were injured.
The attack resulted in the loss of a significant volume of sunflower oil stored at the terminal, including oil belonging to third parties.
_1784180576.jpg/MuEvNcdEqI7p52ozaqN40rs8ajMF4HE0if0fJvKJ.jpg)
The company had previously reported that Russian strikes on the nights of July 11 and 12 caused significant damage to Kernel’s port assets, forcing operations to be suspended.
"The shelling damaged loading and unloading equipment, terminal infrastructure, and power supply lines. Grain silos and sunflower oil storage tanks were destroyed or damaged, resulting in blockages, spillage, and quality losses of around 45,000 tonnes of wheat and 9,000 tonnes of sunflower oil," the company said in a stock exchange disclosure on July 13.
Thanks to safety measures implemented at the facilities, none of the employees were injured during those attacks or the latest strike.
Kernel said the timeline for resuming terminal operations would depend on the elimination of the consequences of the attacks and the results of an engineering audit.
The company emphasized that strikes on port infrastructure threaten not only Ukrainian agricultural exports but also global food security and international shipping.
Kernel also noted on July 13 that vessels flying the flags of China and other countries were being loaded at the port during the attacks.
