“Syrian Express” Resumes Operations

The Syrian port of Tartus has received two ships loaded with grain in Russian-occupied Sevastopol, while two others departed Syria for Russia.

The movements were reported by Kateryna Yaresko, a journalist with the SeaKrime investigative project of the Myrotvorets Center.

The LEONID PESTRIKOV (IMO: 9922122) arrived in Tartus after being loaded in occupied Sevastopol between July 3 and 16, 2025 (coordinates: 44.584, 33.427). The cargo was shipped by Agro-Fregat, a company operating in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine. The cargo is believed to be grain stolen from Ukrainian regions under Russian control.

Also anchored in Tartus is the CAFFA (IMO: 9143611), which loaded approximately 3,000 tons of barley at the Avlita terminal in Sevastopol on July 16–18, 2025 (coordinates: 44.625, 33.552). The exporter is Khlebkom, another company implicated in grain theft from occupied Ukrainian areas.

Meanwhile, the vessel DAMAS WAVE (IMO: 8915299) entered the Black Sea on July 11 after departing the Syrian port of Tartus. Previously, it had delivered cargo from occupied Feodosia and returned to Syria, departing Tartus again on July 5.

This was the vessel’s second trip along the route. The first delivery to Tartus occurred on April 18–20, 2025, following a stop in occupied Feodosia on March 15.

“We note the resumption of the ‘Syrian Express’,” Yaresko wrote.

At the same time, the SPARTA (IMO: 9268710), a vessel owned by the Russian state-run Oboronlogistika, arrived in Tartus on July 19. It unloaded and picked up prepacked containers. The ship, which transports cargo for the Russian military contingent in Syria, then moved to a waiting area where a convoy is being assembled for return to the port of Baltiysk.

Following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime, Syria’s new government terminated an investment agreement in January 2025 with a Russian company that managed the civilian section of Tartus port, where Russia maintains its only overseas naval base. The agreement terminated was signed in 2019 and applied only to the port’s commercial terminal.

The terminal has since been transferred to Dubai-based DP World, which pledged to invest $800 million in its development and port logistics.

Russia has had access to the Tartus naval facility since 1971, when it belonged to the Soviet Union. After the USSR’s collapse, Russia continued to use the base for fuel and resupply operations.

Since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2012, Russia has significantly expanded and modernized the base to accommodate larger naval vessels. Following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Tartus became a key hub for sustaining Russia’s military presence in the Mediterranean.

However, after the Assad regime was ousted, Russia began withdrawing its forces from the port.