TEHRAN: Eleven international shipping companies have set up offices at Shahid Rajaee Port, Iran’s largest commercial port, and the first European company will open its office there within the next four weeks.
The companies come from a range of countries, including China and South Korea, Mohammad Saeidnejad, the president of Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) told Iranian press. It has taken months of negotiations between companies and Iran to encourage direct shipping lines to the country, Saeidnejad said.
On July 15, Diego Aponte, CEO of Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC), visited Tehran to discuss post-sanctions business opportunities with his counterpart at Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), Mohammad Hossein Dajmar.
CMA CGM’s 11,500-teu containership Andromeda will call at Shaid Rajaee port in early August, as part of its Asia-Europe loop.Previously, while trade sanctions were imposed on Iran, all import cargo had to be transshipped from countries in the Middle East Gulf. Now, international shipping companies want to ship cargoes directly to Iran to save delivery time and costs.
