It is taking up to 2 weeks to inspect tankers carrying grain from Ukraine, causing a massive backlog of 150 ships

Analysts say that the time taken to inspect Ukrainian ships carrying vital supplies of grain, fertilizer, and other foods was more than double the norm last month.

A spokesman for the United Nations' Black Sea Grain Initiative Joint Collaboration Centre told Insider on Monday that 150 ships are waiting to be cleared.

Increased interest from the industry to send more vessels to participate in the Initiative is one of the factors contributing to the queue.

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, vessels leaving the country have been closely watched.

According to the International Food Policy Research Institute, 10% and 15% of the world's wheat and corn production are accounted for by Ukraine.

Concerns over the impact of less Ukrainian grain being available on global food security were raised following the Russian invasion.

The UN brokered a deal between Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine to restart supplies from blockaded Ukrainian Black Sea ports. Under the deal, vessels are given safe passage through un-mined areas of the Black Sea and are inspected in Turkey before heading to their final destination.

Figures from SovEcon which tracks Black Sea agricultural markets were reported by the Financial Times.

According to SovEcon's data, the time taken between vessels leaving the port of Odesa to pass through Turkey has increased.

The wait was between 2 and 6 days in August and between 10 and 15 days in September.

The committee's five inspection teams were stretched to the limit because more ships were arriving than had been anticipated.

All parties need to agree that we need to add inspectors.

Joint inspection teams comprised of Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, and UN inspectors inspect every day.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative's tracker shows that more than 90 ships are yet to reach their final destinations. More than 6 million metric tons of grains and other food have been carried from Ukrainian ports.

The first ship to leave under the agreement was stranded in August after the intended buyer rejected the shipment.