The Danish giant has confirmed nine mainline services with weekly departures on all major trade lanes to and from Dubai’s Jebel Ali Port with a direct feeder to Bandar Abbas.
For imports from Iran, there are three weekly services connecting the Middle East and Europe (ME1, ME2 and ME3), a Horn of Africa service and Maersk’s Masika Express service linking the Middle East and East Africa. Maersk’s Mesawa service also connects the Middle East to West Africa/South Africa as well as the Horn of Africa service linking the region to the Far East.
Maersk Line also offers AE1, AE11 and AE15 services linking the Middle East and the Far East for exports to Iran.
Iran is the latest addition to Maersk Line’s UAE cluster which already comprises UAE, Oman and Qatar.
Christian Juul-Nyholm, md of the UAE cluster, is delighted to reinstate a relationship with Iran dating back 60 years.
The opportunity follows the 16 January implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The JCPOA was signed on 14 July, 2015, following the nuclear agreement reached by Iran and the P5+1 group of countries: the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - USA, France, Britain, China and Russia – plus Germany.
“Global container trade has matured over the past years and is growing at a slower pace. Iran has the potential to be the market which stands out with faster growth,” Juul-Nyholm said.
“With a long and proud history in Iran, we are very pleased to be back, offering our customers access to our global network and vast pool of equipment including the most modern reefer fleet. This will enable our customers to reach markets both near and far creating further opportunities to grow their business.”
Maersk’s willingness to return to Iran is understandable. With a population of 80m, the second largest gas reserve and the fourth largest oil reserve in the world, Iran boasts an estimated GDP of $435bn. Growth of between 5.8% to 6.7% is expected over the next two years while it is a gateway to a massive market of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries - Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan – and its combined population of 400m.
Said Marcus Connolly, head of sales for, UAE Cluster: “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 feu but is expected to grow significantly in the coming years.”
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