Fourteen international shipping lines have returned to Iranian ports following the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (the formal name of the nuclear deal signed by Iran with the West), the deputy head of Ports and Marine Organization of Iran said.
Jalil Eslami added that eight more shipping lines have signaled their readiness to resume their activities here.
“Mediterranean Shipping Company, the world’s second-largest shipping line in terms of container vessel capacity, and Evergreen Line are among the top shipping lines engaged in economic interactions with Iranian ports,” he said. France’s CMA CGM, the world’s third largest container shipping group, called on Shahid Rajaei, Iran’s biggest container port at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz, early August.
“The presence of well-known international shipping lines in Iran is an important confirmation that the country is prepared to have commercial cooperation with the world,” Mehr News Agency quoted Eslami as saying. Earlier in July, chairman of the Shipping Association of Iran said all restrictions on Iranian shipping companies have been lifted following the removal of nuclear sanctions.
“With sanctions gone, Iranian vessels are now allowed to freely sail around the world. Likewise, foreign vessels are permitted to enter Iran’s territorial waters,” Masoud Polmeh was quoted as saying. Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines’ container carrier Azargoun called at Belgium’s Antwerp Port in March, for the first time in almost half a decade after calling at the Port of Hamburg. The Iranian ship moored in the Deurganck dock after departure from Germany’s Hamburg.
The last time IRISL made port calls to Europe was in 2010 through its subsidiary Hafiz Darya Shipping Company, or HDS Lines. Belgium’s Antwerp Port Authority signed a memorandum of understanding with Shahid Rajaei Port Authority, located in Iran’s southern Hormozgan Province back in July.
Under the terms of the MoU, the respective port authorities of Antwerp and Bandar Abbas will join forces so that companies in both ports can collaborate and develop trade between Iran and Belgium.
