Turkey Resumes Black Sea Ship Transits Via Straits After Delays

By Patrick Sykes

Aug 9, 2026 (Bloomberg) –Turkey resumed allowing ships to transit its straits on the way to the Black Sea, following unexplained delays for some vessels amid heightened security risks in the area. 

Crude oil tanker Aegean Dream entered the Dardanelles Strait on Sunday after waiting in the area since Thursday, and was signaling its destination as the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal in Russia’s Novorossiysk, according to ship tracking data. Container vessel Mehmet Kahveci A also passed through the waterway early Sunday signaling Novorossiysk. 

Turkey’s Directorate General of Coastal Safety had told some ships bound for Russian and Ukrainian ports in