The first ship carrying coal from South Africa dropped anchor in the Illichivsk commercial port in the Odesa region on Oct. 23, a source in the Ukrainian Infrastructure Ministry told Interfax.
The ship with 85,000 tonnes of coal on board was due to arrive on Oct. 16-20 and Ukraine is supposed to receive 250,000 tonnes of coal monthly in accordance with an agreement with Steel Mont Trading Ltd on the delivery of one million tonnes of South African anthracite.
In total, Ukrainian state-run and private companies have signed agreements on the import of 5.6 million tonnes of coal, including from Russia, until the end of 2015.
The Ukrinterenergo company, which ordered the coal supplies, said the second ship c South African coal would arrive between Oct. 28-30.
The ship MBA Future has 79,000 tonnes of coal aboard and is moving towards Ukraine, the company said.
Ukrinterenergo plans a third coal shipment from South Africa, almost 85,000 tonnes, for Nov. 7-9, 2014.
