Maersk stops service to Iranian ports

Maersk stops service to Iranian ports    Maersk Line said today it has “has decided to cease acceptance of business to and from the Iranian ports of Bandar Abbas, Bandar Khomeini and Asaluyeh.”
   In a brief statement posted on Maersk Line’s Web site, Morten Engelstoft, chief operating officer, stated the Danish carriers “is committed to complying with all relevant foreign trade controls and sanctions programs, including all relevant provisions of U.S. and EU sanctions related to Iran. We have a comprehensive compliance program in place and continue to take all actions necessary to comply with all U.S. and EU trade regulations. In this connection, Maersk Line has decided to cease acceptance of business to and from the Iranian ports of Bandar Abbas, Bandar Khomeini and Asaluyeh.”
   A company spokesman said current shipments would be completed but that the company would not accept new business.
   The Maersk Web site says the company has several feeder services to Iran:
   ' Between Jebel Ali in the United Arab Emirates and Bandar Abbas (Bandar is a Persian word meaning port).
   ' Between Jebel Ali, Busehr, Bandar Khomeini, and Khorramshahr.
   ' Between Jebel Ali and Bushehr.
   It was not immediately clear if Iran would continue to do business at other Iranian ports or continue to serve the country with feeders operated by other companies.
   Maersk could not immediately clarify its policy, but pointed American Shipper to reports from Reuters.
   Reuters said Engelstoft “declined to specify how much cargo would be affected by the closure of its operations,” and said the changes “leave a challenge for foodstuffs when we can’t transport to those ports. That challenge will need to be resolved.”
   Maersk’s action follows the decision on June 23 by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control Department to impose sanctions on Tidewater Middle East Co. It said Tidewater is owned by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and has been used by the IRGC for illicit shipments. It also imposed sanctions against Iran Air.
   According to a history on its Web site, Maersk began serving Iran in 1950 from the port of Korramshahr, and in 1992, Iran Danish (Shipping) Co. (IDSC), a private joint stock company was registered in Iran and took over all agency functions for Maersk Sealand the following year.
   As of Jan. 1, 2007, Maersk Iran A.S. was awarded the agencies for Maersk Line and Safmarine. In July of last year, the Washington-based pressure group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), wrote to Nils Andersen, chief executive officer of A.P. Moller – Maersk, complaining that Maersk’s business dealings in Iran violated U.S. law, UANU complained that several container terminals operated by Maersk Iran A.S. are service points for imports and exports and also fall under the jurisdiction of the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act (CISADA), including the Shaheed Rajee Container Terminal in Bandar Abbas. UANI said the Shaheed Rajee Container Terminal is operated by Tidewater.
   UANI President Mark Wallace, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, said, “CISADA requires companies that do business with the U.S. government to certify that they do not engage in business in Iran that is subject to sanctions ' Maersk cannot make such a certification.”
   But Christian Kledal, general counsel for Maersk, had written last year that he “was not aware of shipments violating CISADA,” noting at that time Tidewater was not on the OFAC list. He had added at that time Maersk had found no provision in the new sanctions law supporting Wallace’s contention that “a non-U.S. company would act in violation of CISADA’s sanctions provisions simply for dealing with any entity affiliated with the IRGC.”
   Maersk Line’s U.S.-flag subsidiary, Maersk Line Ltd., is a key carrier to the U.S. military. ' Chris Dupin