Iran Shipping Lines

The maritime fleet of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL Group) comprises 115 ocean-going vessels with the total capacity of DWT|3.3 million|first=yes. The ownership structure of the fleet comprises 87 ocean-going vessels in IRISL and 28 different types of ships under the flag of subsidiaries, including Khazar Shipping, Valfajr as well as Iran-India Shipping Companies. They are manned by 6,000 Iranian personnel including shore staff, masters, deck and engine officers as well as ratings, who work under the flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Caspian Sea, Persian Gulf, international waters and various ports of the world.

History

Due to the increase in the volume of imports into Iran since early 1960, consequence of which was to employ many foreign flag vessels to trade within Iranian ports caused some concerns to the country. In addition, the need and importance of a regular carriage of goods by sea and considering peculiar geographical characteristic, accessibility to open seas, with having had long water boundary and water ways to and from Iran made the necessity in initiating a research study to establish the first and biggest integrated national shipping lines. The result of the research study, which was started in 1961, was approved by the first general assembly meeting to establish Iranian National Shipping Company on August 1967 with the name of Aria Shipping Lines.

Aria Shipping started its activity in 1967 by two small size vessels with capacity of 1000 and 1550 tones in Persian Gulf area and 4 ocean going vessels, namely, Aria Sep, Aria Far, Aria Naz and Aria Gaam with the total capacity of 61,252 tones that had been put into service between the Persian gulf-Europe, Asia and America. By the end of 1978 the number of Aria shipping vessels was 42 with the total capacity of 525,000 DWT which proved the increasing of the sea transportation volume by Aria shipping lines and its effective role in Iran economy.

After the Islamic Revolution and change of economical and political policy on January 5, 1979, the authority renamed the Aria Shipping to Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) and affiliated the company to the ministry of commerce.

During the Iran Iraq War, numerous vessels such as Aria Boom, Aria Jahan, Aria Shaad, Aria Omid, became total losses due to missile attacks, as a result of which, the IRISL suffered dearly. After this period, the names of all the vessels were changed to those of martyrs and cities - with the prefix "IRAN".

Fleet as of 2006

The International Maritime Organization has 140 member states with Iran ranking among the top 20.

Ports and shipping organization

The "Ports and shipping organization" is a government agency under the authority of the Ministry of Roads and Transportation, with responsibility for supervising maritime trade and the operation of commercial ports and shipping in Iranian waters.

Development

Negotiations for building six DWT|75,000 Panamax bulk carriers and 10 Handymax bulk carriers with the capacity of DWT|53,000 have been finalized with Iran Shipbuilding & Offshore Industries Complex Co. (ISOICO) and SADRA shipyards respectively and if the prices are finalized, total value of contracts signed with domestic shipyards will surpass $600 million.

To support domestic industries, manufacturing containers inside the country has been encouraged. The first such contract, worth $10 million, was signed in 2001. It called for the production of TEU|5,000|first=yesworth of containers and, so far, 1,600 containers have been delivered. Moreover, various kinds of industrial lubricants have been produced by Pars Oil Company as well as Behran Oil and, at present, about 70% of the lubricant needed by the fleet is supplied domestically.

Marine transport is greatly dependent on auxiliary capacities and facilities including ports, roads, railroad and so on. Therefore, the port and shipping organization of Iran agreed to award management contracts for operations of container terminals in Bandar Khorramshahr and Bandar Imam Khomeini to a subsidiary of IRISL, that is, IRISL Port, in 2003 and 2004, respectively. In addition, according to an agreement with the Islamic Republic of Iran Railway, a joint company was established to launch an express container line from southern Iranian ports to major destinations inside the country, as well as to CIS countries. These measures were in line with the long-term policy of the government to develop the transit sector and activate North-South Transit Corridor. All port terminals are currently run by private companies.

In October 2006, a new company has been established in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas to repair various types of ocean liners. According to ISNA, the Bandar Abbas Pars Ship Repairing Company has been formed jointly by IRISL and the Iran Shipbuilding & Offshore Company of Iran. The plant has the capacity to carry out maintenance works on large vessels with 500,000-ton capacity.

As per IRISL's director, Iran needs to purchase or build 40 vessels by 2009.

In addition, profitability of the company has been on the rise despite elimination of state subsidies as a result of adopting a cost management, planned maintenance strategy, so that, the company’s net loss which amounted to $15 million in 1999 has been turned around to more than $150 million profits during the 2003-2004 fiscal year. According to the article 44(C) of the Iranian Constitution, IRISL is ready for privatization.

ee also

*Transportation in Iran
*Current Iranian Navy vessels

External links

* [http://www.irisl.net/MainE.asp Official Website]
* [http://www.pso.ir/ Iran Ports and Shipping Orgnization]
* [http://www.irpmo.com/portsgate/ Iran Ports invest]
* [http://www.maroos.net/ Maroos Shipping Company]
* [http://www.LVSHIPPING.com/ PARS LV]