A Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) delegation has visited Iran after it was announced that sanctions on the country would be gradually lifted.
Diego Aponte, the company’s President and CEO, visited Tehran on 15 July and met with Mohammed Hossein-Dajmar, the managing director of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL).
Aponte praised IRISL’s performance under the sanctions, which banned it from operating in international waters. The names of 16 shipping companies, including IRISL, and their executives, have now been removed from a US list of sanctioned firms and individuals.
The sanctions also prevented non-Iranian shipping lines from calling at Iranian ports and Aponte said MSC wanted to start calling in Iran. Despite these sanctions, earlier this month, Iranian Transport Minister Abbas Akhoundi said that ships from eight major international transportation companies had started to dock at Iran’s southern ports.
MSC was the leading international shipping line operating in Iran until its services were reduced and then suspended in 2012 because of increasingly tough trade sanctions. The company was allowed to resume some operations in 2014 at the port of Bandar Abbas.
A transit expert at the Bandar Abbas Port Authority, Behzad Alsafi, told CM: “We hope the removal of sanctions will affect us positively. Some famous shipping lines have started negotiations in order to open a new window of cooperation. We are ready to enhance our port and container activities.”
The US, EU and UN will all lift their sanctions progressively, assuming that Iran continues allow inspections and those inspections show no evidence of them developing nuclear capabilities.
Many UN sanctions will be lifted immediately but US sanctions will remain in place for the time being, except for food, airline parts and carpets.
The US, which has been sanctioning Iran for a lot longer than the EU and Un, will lift all its sanctions after eight years or after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) decides that all nuclear material in Iran is for peaceful activities.
Although the deal may be controversial in the US Congress, President Obama has said he will “veto any legislation which prevents the full implementation of this deal”. In that case, Congress may not have the votes to override the veto.
Canada, on the other hand, which was not a party in the negotiations will keep its sanctions for now.
Global companies are expected to now target Iran as a market and to move production there in some cases. PSA Peugeot Citroen, for example, was forced to stop selling cars to Iran in 2012 because of sanctions.It is now targeting selling 400,00 car sales in Iran and also to produce cars there and export to the rest of the Middle East in the long-term.
CMA CGM to Start Calling at Iran
French shipping company CMA CGM is about to start calling at southern Iranian port of Shahid Rajaei as of next month.
The announcement was made by Ebrahim Idani, director general of Hormozgan Ports and Maritime Department, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reports. According to Idani, the first CMA CGM ship scheduled to berth at Shahid Rajaei port in early August is the Andromeda.
The ship boasts a length of 363m, a draft of 15.5m, and a capacity of 11 5000 TEU and is sailing on the company’s CIMEX service. The ship is said to be underway for the Persian Gulf and is scheduled to load new cargo at the port’s second terminal within its ten-destination journey, Idani said.
The move comes following the deal on lifting of nuclear sanctions agreed upon last week between Iran and the six world powers in Vienna.
The United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution on July 20th establishing a monitoring system for Iran’s nuclear program and considering the “eventual removal” of all nuclear-related sanctions against the country.
Iran has been busy preparing for the return of major container lines to its ports.
The Deputy Managing Director of the Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) for Port Affairs and Special Zones declared that in order to attract international shipping lines to the Iranian waters and ports, special discounts were stipulated for foreign cargo owners and ships.
The above mentioned discounts would be calculated for active entities in the field of cargo transit and transshipment based on their performance volume and ship sizes.
He continued that the aforementioned tariffs and charges for cargo loading and discharge in Iranian ports would be enforced by late June 2015.
World Maritime News Staff
Container lines make quick return to Iran as sanctions lifted
While it may take some time for Iranian oil to start flowing back into the tanker market, container lines are already moving to take advantage of the lifting of sanctions.
According to analyst Alphaliner Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) made its return to Iran ahead of the nuclear deal with its Korea – East Asia – Middle East service calling at Bandar Abbas since April. Compatriot Hanjin Shipping is set to join them this month, along with partner Yang Ming, adding Bandar Abbas calls to their Far East – Middle East Express and China Gulf Express services.
Meanwhile CMA CGM, United Arab Shipping Co, and China Shipping Container Line will start calling the Bandar Abbas on their Far East – Middle East service from 6 August.
“Other carriers are expected to follow suit, including MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Co) whose ceo Diego Aponte visited Tehran earlier this month, holding meetings with his counterpart at Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL),” Alphaliner said in its weekly newsletter.
The lifting of sanctions is also expected to benefit Iran’s HDS Lines. “HDS Lines is expected to re-develop its network, especially to Europe, after the sanctions against the country forced the com- pany to restrict its non-Middle East liner activities to the Far East, India and East Africa,” the report commented.
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