Shipping lines to resume services to Iran, says government

The news was announced yesterday by Seyed Ali Estiri, vice president of Maritime Affairs at Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organisation (PMO). “Given the positive international atmosphere following the Geneva [nuclear] deal, and the activation of Shaheed Rajaie Port’s 2nd Operator, a number of foreign shipping lines have announced their interest in resuming traffic to [and from] the port,” was reported as saying Estiri by local news agencies.

While Estiri indicated that the PMO has already conducted negotiations with said companies, and work is underway by the PMO to prepare Iranian ports for vessel calls, the exact timeline for the lines’ reintroduction remains unclear at present.

Meanwhile, Iranian deputy minister of road and urban development Mohammed Saeednejad has announced that port activity has seen improvement following the suspension of some of the sanctions, which included trade in gold and other precious metals, petrochemicals, and cars. The deal also allows third-party oil purchases to remain at current levels, resulting in some $4.2bn in oil revenues for Iran. However, US and EU sanctions limiting the export of Iranian oil from 2.5m barrels per day to 1m remain in place.

Sanctions were suspended following a deal struck in Geneva between Iran and Group 5+1 (also known as P5+1 or E3+3) in November, in which Iran agreed to halt its Uranium enrichment programme for six months.

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