A Chinese oil tanker[/caption]TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran is expanding its sea cargo fleet, Managing-Director of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) Mohammad Hossein Dajmar said Sunday, adding that China has built three new ships for the country's shipping sector.
Dajmar said Iran has ordered 3 new ships to China, and added that two ships have already been handed to Iran and the third one will be supplied in the current Iranian year (March 2013 - March 2014).
Dajmar stressed Iranian ships' continued activity despite the western sanctions and restrictions on the country's economy, and stated, "At present the company is operating with 164 ships with a total (transiting) capacity of 5.8 million tons of cargo."
He further noted the western sanctions imposed on Iran to undermine its trade and harm its economy, including the last year ban on P&1 (Protection and Indemnity) insurance coverage for Iranian ships and other vessels carrying goods to Iran, and added that the move proved inefficient as Iran could provide P&I insurance coverage for its ships in cooperation with a local insurance company after the western sanctions.
Iran announced in July that the country has set up a domestic consortium to provide insurance cover for the oil tankers which carry Iran's oil for exports.
"A consortium consisting of the internal insurance companies led by Bimeh Iran (insurance company) has been set up to provide insurance cover for the oil tankers which are tasked with exporting Iran's crude and oil derivatives (products)," Deputy Manager of Bimeh Iran Company for Technical Affairs Siavash Saeedian told FNA.
Iran has also voiced preparedness to provide insurance cover for all foreign ships and oil tankers.
In relevant remarks, Dajmar also voiced Iran's preparedness in July to provide insurance cover for all foreign and Iranian ships and oil tankers, in a move to push back the US-engineered EU embargos against Tehran, and said Iran has managed to break Europe's monopoly on the shipping insurance industry.
"The sanction imposed by the foreign insurance firms made us launch Iranian insurance of P&I and this has been gifted to us by the sanctions," Dajmar told FNA last July.
"Before this, the Europeans had the monopoly of shipping insurances and a few number of countries owned the insurance firms and coverage but we have now succeeded in starting Iranian shipping insurance through government's cooperation," he added.
European Union sanctions against Tehran have stopped European insurers, who dominate the marine insurance sector, from offering cover on Iranian crude.
But the lack of shipping cover has failed to disrupt the flow of Iranian oil to Iran's major customers in Asia - China, India, South Korea and Japan.
By Fars News
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