PRETORIA, December 28. /TASS/. The MV Greenwich vessel carrying the first batch of Russian fertilizers for Africa has left the port city of Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth) in South Africa's Eastern Cape Province and is scheduled to arrive to Mozambique on December 31, a Gqeberha port official told TASS on Tuesday.

"The vessel made a port call in Gqeberha on December 25 due to a storm," he said. "It was expected to spend up to seven days in the port. But the storm is over now, and the captain decided to continue the voyage in order to deliver the cargo before the New Year 2023."

In line with the schedule, MV Greenwich is to arrive in Mozambique’s capital Beira early on December 31.

MV Greenwich, a vessel chartered by the World Food Programme (WFP), left the Netherlands on November 29, carrying 20,000 metric tons of Russian fertilizers. The humanitarian cargo is destined for Malawi via Mozambique. It will be the first of a series of shipments of fertilizer destined for a number of other countries on the African continent in the coming months.