TEHRAN: representatives of state shipping company IRISL – Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines – joined staff of the Peter W. Lampke shipping agency and Terminal C. Steinweg to welcome the Captain and crew of the SEVGI. This was the first call by IRISL’s new general cargo service, which will call monthly at Hamburg as the only port in Germany, transporting conventional general cargo in addition to containers.
The multi-purpose vessels deployed are equipped with shipboard cranes. Apart from Iranian ports, the new service linking ports on the Persian Gulf with others in Northern Europe will call at additional ports in the Middle East when required.
Thanks to the resumption of foreign trade activities with Iran, especially in the export area, people at C. Steinweg are expecting an initially gradual, later substantial increase in seaborne cargo throughput with Iran and are looking forward to the return of IRISL’s conventional liner service on the Elbe. Germany is traditionally Iran’s largest Western trading partner. Before the sanctions, Iran’s imports via Hamburg were mainly of grain, potash fertilizers, feedstuffs and machinery. Exports arriving in the Port of Hamburg from Iran were mainly fresh and tinned fruit, cotton and other threads, rubber and vegetables.
