Iran VLCCs in Europe on First Post-Sanctions Trip

By Aiswarya Lakshmi January 24, 2017

An Iranian oil tanker has called at a European port for the first time since the lifting of sanctions last January, IRNA news agency reported quoting Sirous Kianersi, managing director of the National Iranian Tankers Company (NITC).

Sirous said that the first NITC tanker leased to a major Spanish oil company docked at the Port of Algeciras just recently.

More NITC tankers are heading to other European ports, he said, adding two vessels are currently en route to the Netherlands.

Meanwhile, the Financial Tribune Daily said that The Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) is launching a new service that will connect Iran to the French port of Le Havre.

Before nuclear sanctions, Iranian containerships called at Le Havre every week between 2006 and 2009, connecting the main Iranian ports.

The service will begin in February and be operated by HDASCO Line (Hafez Darya Arya Shipping Company), also named HDS lines, which is a specialist container carrier under the IRISL Group, according to the American Journal of Transportation.

Two Iranian VLCCs will call into Rotterdam for the first time to deliver close to 4 million barrels of crude next month, after a five-year hiatus, according to trade sources and S&P Global trade flow software cFlow.

IRISL’s container carrier Azargoun called at Belgium’s Antwerp Port in March, for the first time in almost half a decade after calling at the port of Hamburg. The Iranian ship moored at Deurganck dock after departure from Germany’s Hamburg.

The last time IRISL made port calls to Europe was in 2010 through its subsidiary Hafiz Darya Shipping Company, or HDS Lines.