Sunday 26 June 2011
New box crisis may lie in wait What a potential dotcom crash could mean for the container sector
Maersk Line poised to axe Bandar Abbas services
Tidewater Middle East facilities such as Shahid Rajaee terminal at Bandar Abbas are said to have been used to export arms.
Top carriers consider action after US targets Iranian ports operator Tidewater Middle East over alleged link with Revolutionary Guards
MAERSK Line and other top carriers are now considering the future of services to Bandar Abbas, after the US Treasury last night moved to include seven Iranian ports in its latest round of sanctions against the country.
Washington has already imposed extensive stipulations surrounding dealings with Iran’s biggest container company IRISL, including a ban on the provision of P&I cover, and a ban on shipments of refined petroleum products. Third party country are included if they operate in the US.
Denmark’s Maersk, the world’s biggest boxship outfit, is understood to provide shipping, salvage and towage services in Iran. It also operates a weekly containership run providing a connection between Bandar Abbas and Jebel Ali in the UAE
In 2010, it voluntarily paid more than $3m to settle US Office of Foreign Asset Control allegations that it provided unlicensed shipping services to Iran and Sudan between 2003 and 2007.
A company spokesman said: “The AP Moller-Maersk Group is committed to complying with all relevant foreign trade controls and sanctions programmes. The group has a comprehensive compliance programme in place and continues to take all actions necessary to comply with relevant laws and regulations, including any applicable US sanctions. That is also the case in connection with any applicable sanctions related to Iran.”
Other carriers are also likely to be caught out in the latest measures from the US Treasury, which target both airline Iran Air and Tidewater Middle East, which operates seven ports in Iran. The US believes that Tidewater Middle East is owned by the regime-affiliated Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp.
The package is aimed at hindering Iran’s chances of acquiring nuclear weapons capability, which the US is convinced that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government wishes to secure. Tehran has repeatedly denied the suggestion.
Tidewater Middle East facilities — including the main Shahid Rajaee Container Terminal at Bandar Abbas — are said to have been used to export arms and materiel in violation of UN Security Council resolutions. Other ports affected by the sanctions include the Bandar Imam Khomeini grain terminal, and terminals at Bandar Anzali, Khorramshar, Assaluyeh, Aprin and Amir Abad.
Major international lines including Hong Kong-listed China Shipping Container Lines, Taipei-listed Yang Ming Marine and Taipei-listed Evergreen all have services that call at Bandar Abbas.
Hong Kong-listed Orient Overseas Container Line identifies Bandar Abbas on its Middle East Express service but cancelled its June 15 call at the port by its vessel Cosco Kaohsiung without explanation.
Other international lines will likely use feeder carriers such as Dubai’s Simatech Shipping via ports including Jebel Ali to tranship containers to Iran.
In 2009 SRCT had annual throughput of around 2.2m teu, according to Singapore company Overseas Port Management, which had a terminal management contract with Tidewater until 2009, when OPM terminated the deal due to a payment dispute.
In January, Hamburg-based terminal operator HHLA stopped negotiations with Tidewater over an operation and advancement contract for container terminals at Bandar Abbas.
HHLA withdrew from discussions with Tidewater due to political pressure in Germany related to the Iran government’s hostile stance towards Israel.
