Maersk Line resumes service to Iran

The Danish liner carrier has resumed service to Iran after a five-year absence and just a year and a half after the Maersk Tigris was fired upon by the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy.    Maersk Line said it has resumed service to Iran after a five-year absence and just a year and a half after a ship in one of its container services was fired upon by the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy.
   “This means that our customers can once again utilize our global network, large fleet of vessels and equipment, weekly departures, superior transit times and innovative suite of e-business solutions, both to and from Iran, subject to country specific regulations,” the world’s largest container carrier said.
   Maersk’s Iran business will be managed by a team that oversees a cluster of countries, which also includes the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar.
   Christian Juul-Nyholm, managing director for Maersk’s “UAE Cluster,” was upbeat about the resumption of service. “Global container trade has matured over the past years and is growing at a slower pace,” Juul-Nyholm said. “Iran has the potential to be the market which stands out with faster growth.”
   Marcus Connolly, head of sales for the cluster, said, “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 FFE (40-foot containers) but is expected to grow significantly in the coming years.”
   The resumption of service to Iran by Maersk is all the more remarkable in that just last year, the Revolutionary Guards fired warning shots across the bow of the Maersk Tigris, chartered by Maersk Line.
   The Maersk Tigris was passing through the straits of Hormuz on its way from Saudi Arabia to the United Arab Emirates on April 28, 2015 when Iran’s Revolutionary Guard forced the cargo ship to divert and anchor in Iranian waters. The captain of the ship said it was in international waters when it was fired upon and forced to divert to Iranian waters.
   It developed that Maersk was involved in a dispute with a customer and an appeals court in Tehran had ordered the company to pay $163,000. After more than a week, Maersk accepted the ruling, paid the money, and the ship was released on May 7, 2015.
   But admiralty attorneys expressed shock that a cargo ship would be fired upon by the IRGC over a commercial dispute.
   In July 2010, a U.S.-based group called United Against Nuclear Iran, began a campaign that called on Maersk to “comply with sanctions and end their business in Iran.” In October 2012, the group said Maersk fully ceased shipping to the country. The group noted that Maersk’s U.S.-flag affiliate had many contracts with the U.S. army.
   Sanctions have been eased after the deal that the U.S. and its allies reached with Iran last year that aimed at preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
   Maersk noted that Iran is the second largest country in the Middle East with a population of 80 million.
   “In 2016, with an estimated GDP of $435 billion, expected growth of 5.8 percent to 6.7 percent in the next two years, and a gateway to a massive market of CIS countries of 400 million in population, Iran holds high potential in enabling global trade,” Maersk said. “A high level of technical expertise and a low cost of operation, further makes it an attractive location for multinational companies to invest in.”