Iranian port back in business after sanctions eased

 TIN news:    With the easing of EU economic sanctions, Iran’s Shahid Rajaee Port will now see the resumption of international container services, according to the Tehran Times.
 
Ali Jahandideh, deputy director of the Ports and Maritime Organisation of Iran, confirmed that a Taiwanese container ship will call at the port on July 20, to be followed by another Taiwanese ship on July 25. Future calls are also expected to be made by ships from India, China, and South Korea.
 
The sanctions, which had been originally imposed in June 2012 on Tidewater Middle East Co – Iran’s foremost ports operator and co-owned by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard – barred EU persons or entities from making direct or indirect payments for Tidewater’s benefit; this meant exporters, importers, ship-owners and charterers could not pay loading fees at Tidewater’s seven ports.
 
With a loading and unloading capacity of around 88 million tonnes per year, Shahid Rajaee Port handles 90% of Iran’s container traffic and lies strategically at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf.