The return of 17 international shipping lines to the provincial ports since the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action is a great success, the governor of Hormozgan Province said.
JCPOA is the formal name of the nuclear deal signed by Iran and world powers last year.
Jasem Jadari added that the country needs to tap the full potential of its geographical position on the North-South International Corridor to develop non-oil trade, IRNA reported.
The lifting of sanctions encouraged many ship owners to return to normal trade with Iran, as the US removed 606 vessels and vessel aliases from the sanctions list, from crude oil tankers and dry bulk carriers to supply vessels.
The southern province of Hormozgan is home to Iran’s largest port by tonnage. Shahid Rajaie is one of the main transit ports linking Central Asia to Eastern Europe and accounts for 90% of Iran’s cargo traffic.
The world’s largest container shipping company Maersk Line was the latest shipping line to resume services to Iran in October after a five-year hiatus.
The resumption of service to Iran comes nearly a year after Maersk’s 2M Alliance partner Mediterranean Shipping Company once again began sailing to the second-largest country in the Middle East.
“Global container trade has matured over the past years and is growing at a slower pace. Iran has the potential to become the market that stands out with faster growth,” Christian Juul-Nyholm, managing director, UAE cluster, Maersk Line, was quoted as saying by JOC.com.
The Iranian market represents around 700,000 forty-foot-equivalent units, said Marcus Connolly, the head of sales, UAE Cluster.
“It is hugely exciting that after a five-year absence, we are again able to offer Maersk Line services to customers to and from Iran. After a period of relative isolation, access to this new market will present significant growth opportunities for Maersk Line in a market that today represents approximately 700,000 FFE but is expected to grow significantly in the coming years,” he said.
Other major shipping lines that have resumed services to Iran after sanctions include Mediterranean Shipping Company, CMA CGM, Evergreen Line, China Cosco Shipping and United Arab Shipping Company.
Container traffic through Iran’s major ports is soaring. Container throughput continued the strong double-digit growth of recent months, booking a year-on-year rise of 16.7% to more than 197,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units, the Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran’s data show.
Although from a relatively small base, Iran’s high double-digit growth in container traffic is a rare sight in the current global trade environment and shipping lines continue to add capacity and services to capture market share, according to JOC Group Inc.
As of October 2016, Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines is reported as the 19th largest on Clarkson Research’s list of top operator-owned container shipping fleets and 21st largest by TEU capacity in Alphaliner’s Top 100 list.
Iran’s changing place in the regional and global trade arenas will feature at this year’s Middle East Terminal Operations Conference and Exhibition, scheduled for December 6-7 in Dubai, the UAE.
Speaking to Reuters this October, IRISL Chairman and Managing Director Mohammad Saeedi, who joins TOC Middle East on December 6 as a keynote speaker in the conference, said he expects the company to be “back to normal” by mid-2017.
“Step by step, the problems have been resolved, removing many restrictions and limitations,” since the sanctions were lifted, he said in an interview at a shipping conference in Copenhagen.
“I think at the maximum in mid-2017, the whole thing would be in the normal manner of things.”
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