Iran and Germany to Set Up Shipping Company, Resume Logistics Cooperation

IRISL Iran and Germany are negotiating the possibilities for re-establishing shipping cooperation including through establishment of a new container shipping company. During a recent visit to Hamburg, Mohammad Saiedi, IRISL managing director signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the owners of Germanys shipping company PWL Group, Mehr News Agency reports. As informed, the joint company should be launched by March 2016. Within the framework of the visit, Saiedi also met with the Hamburg Economic Affairs and Logistics Minister Frank Horch along with the Hamburg Mayor, Olaf Scholz  to discuss cooperation through joint venture agreements and shared companies IRISL managing director also visited three terminals in Hamburg Port, where the companys first containership since the lifting of the sanctions against Iran is expected to arrive by the end of February. Namely, IRISL plans to return to Europe before the end of this month, with HDS Lines ready to launch a full container service connecting Iran with Northern Europe and the Mediterranean. The new service is expected to start from Bandar Abbas, with calls initially limited to a fairly small number of North European ports (tentatively Antwerp and Hamburg), before being extended to other ports at a later stage, with ships of up to 6,500 teu to be deployed. Iran has already signed several agreements related to transport including the most recent one between IRISL and the French shipping company CMA CGM. Under the deal, the two carriers agreed to cooperate in the field of shipping and logistics, including sharing vessel capacity, setting up joint services in various international routes, exchanging containers and cooperating in terminal and port activities worldwide. World Maritime News Staff