Hyundai Heavy Industries to build containerships, tankers for Iran

Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines is ordering four 14,500-TEU containerships and six chemical/product tankers from the South Korean shipbuilder.    Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) will build 14,500-TEU containerships and 49,000 DWT product/chemical carriers for the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), the South Korean shipbuilder said.
   HHI signed the contracts last Friday at its office in Seoul.
   While neither HHI or IRISL said how many ships would be built, Korea’s Yonhap News Agency said it was a $700 million deal to build four containerships and six tankers, with the first ship to be delivered in 2018.
   HHI said the deal would be financed by Korean financiers, but did not identify them.
   Yonhap said, “The contract is the first shipbuilding order by the Iranian company following the lifting of international sanctions on Tehran earlier this year.”
   HHI said the negotiations for the contracts commenced in December 2015 and involved a series of constructive meetings in Seoul and Tehran.
   In addition, HHI said it would “discuss and pursue technical cooperation to develop the shipbuilding industry of Iran with a local Iranian shipbuilder at the request of IRISL.”
   The containerships will measure 366 meters (m) in length, 48.2m in width and 29.9m in depth, while the product/chemical carriers will be183m long, 32.2m wide and 19.1m high.
   The containerships will be built at HHI’s main yard in Ulsan, Korea, while the product/chemical carriers will be constructed at the Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, also in Ulsan.
   HHI said all the vessels will meet the latest “Tier III” environmental requirement from the U.N.’s International Maritime Organization that limits nitrogen oxide emissions.