The Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line Group ( fa, گروه کشتیرانی جمهوری اسلامی ایران, ''Gruh-e Kâshitirani-ye Jimhuri-ye Eslâmi-ye Iran''), commonly known by its
business name
A trade name, trading name, or business name, is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is a "fictitious" business name. Registering the fictitious name w ...
IRISL Group, is a
shipping line
A shipping line or shipping company is a company whose line of business is ownership and operation of ships.
Shipping companies provide a method of distinguishing ships by different kinds of cargo:
# Bulk cargo is a type of special cargo that i ...
based in and owned by
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
. Its fleet comprises 115 ocean-going vessels with a total capacity of , with 87 being ocean-going vessels owned by IRISL and the remaining 28 ships being owned under the flags of subsidiary companies, including Khazar Shipping, Valfajr and Iran-India Shipping. They are manned by 6,000 personnel who work under the Iranian flag in the
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...
,
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...
, international waters and various ports of the world.
IRISL was
sanctioned by the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
,
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
,
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
, and other parties for assisting in Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile development programs. However, the line had expected to return to the world market in 2016, after the
Iran nuclear deal
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA; fa, برنامه جامع اقدام مشترک , barnāmeye jāme'e eqdāme moshtarak (, ''BARJAM'')), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal or Iran deal, is an agreement on the Iranian nuclear ...
was signed by Iran, the
P5+1/EU3+3 powers, and the EU in August 2015.
In 2015, IRISL had announced plans to become one of the world's top ten shipping lines by 2020. After the United States withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, US sanctions against IRISL were reimposed on 8 June 2020. On 7 January 2022, shipping knowledge bas
Alphalinerranked IRISL as 14th in its Top 100 league chart of global shipping lines.
History
Due to the increase in the volume of imports into Iran since early 1960, many foreign-flagged vessels began to arrive in Iranian ports, which caused some concerns to the government. Considering the nation's long coastline and accessibility to open seas, the government initiated a research study to determine the feasibility of a national shipping line. The research study began in 1961, and in August 1967 the first general assembly meeting approved the establishment of the Iranian National Shipping Company under the name Arya Shipping Lines.
Arya Shipping started in 1967 with six vessels. Two smaller vessels with a capacity of 1,000 and 1,550 tonnes operated in the Persian Gulf area, and four ocean-going vessels (''Arya Sep'', ''Arya Far'', ''Arya Naz'' and ''Arya Gaam'') with a total capacity of 61,252 tonnes provided services to Europe, Asia and the Americas. By the end of 1978, with an increasing shipping volume and an expanding national economy, the fleet consisted of 42 vessels with a total capacity of 525,000 DWT.
After the
Islamic Revolution and changes to economic policies, Arya Shipping was renamed on 5 January 1979 to Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL). The company was responsible to the Ministry of Commerce.
During the
Iran–Iraq War
The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Ba'athist Iraq, Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations S ...
, numerous vessels were destroyed by missile attacks, such as ''Arya Boom'', ''Arya Jahan'', ''Arya Shaad'', ''Arya Omid'', which cost the IRISL dearly. After the war, all the vessels were renamed to names of martyrs and cities with the prefix ''Iran''
With the imposition of
US sanctions
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
because of the
Iranian nuclear weapons program and because of Iran's support for various terrorist groups, IRISL has been using shell companies and renamed its ships to continue trading in sanctioned goods. The Khazar Sea Shipping Lines, for example, was established in 2006 to operate in the Caspian Sea. KSSL now owns and operates sixteen general cargo vessels.
The sanctions against IRISL were removed in 2016 after the signing of the
Iran nuclear deal
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA; fa, برنامه جامع اقدام مشترک , barnāmeye jāme'e eqdāme moshtarak (, ''BARJAM'')), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal or Iran deal, is an agreement on the Iranian nuclear ...
,
but reimposed by the US in 2018.
In August 2015,
Mohammad Saeedi was appointed managing director of IRISL,
succeeding Mohammad Hossein Dajmar, who had held the position for 10 years. Saeedi stepped down in July 2019, and was succeeded by
Mohammad Reza Modarres Khiyabani, who had been a board member at IRISL for a number of years.
Fleet
![IRISL Containerschiff 2009-04-18](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/IRISL_Containerschiff_2009-04-18.jpg)
The
International Maritime Organization has 140 member states with Iran ranking among the top 20. Iran planned to add 16 cargo ships to its naval fleet by mid-March 2010 to increase the total capacity to 5.8 million DWT. The number of cargo ships in 2009 was 154, from 138 in 2008. In 2011, IRISL had the biggest fleet in the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...
with about 170 vessels, though the sanctions adversely impacted its fleet.
Ports and maritime organization
The ''Ports and shipping organization'' is a government agency under the authority of the
Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, responsible for supervising maritime trade and the operation of commercial ports and shipping in Iranian waters.
Marine transport is dependent on auxiliary capacities and facilities including ports, roads, railroad and so on. Therefore, the port and shipping organization of Iran agreed in 2004 for IRISL Port, a subsidiary of IRISL, to operative the container terminals in
Bandar Khorramshahr
Bandar or Bunder may refer to:
Places
* Bandar, Afghanistan
* Bandar, Narayanganj, Bangladesh
* Bandar, Isfahan, Iran
* Bandar, Kermanshah, Iran
* Bandar, Yazd, Iran
* Banda Aceh, Indonesia
* Bandar Lampung, Indonesia
* Bandar Seri Begawan, ...
and
Bandar Imam Khomeini
Bandar-e Shahpour ( fa, بندر شاهپور) is a city and capital of Bandar-e Shahpour District of Mahshahr County, Khuzestan Province, Iran. As of the 2006 census, its population was 67,078, in 14,681 families.
Bandar Shahpour is a port cit ...
, both on the
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...
. In addition, according to an agreement with the
Islamic Republic of Iran Railways
, majoroperators =RAI, Tooka rail, Samand rail
, ridership =21 million
, passkm =13 billion
, freight =31 million tonnes
, tonkm =22 billion tonnes
, infrastructure =
, length =
, doublelength = 142 ...
, 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
Cis or cis- may refer to:
Places
* Cis, Trentino, in Italy
* In Poland:
** Cis, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, south-central
** Cis, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, north
Math, science and biology
* cis (mathematics) (cis(''θ'')), a trigonome ...
countries. These measures were a part of government long-term policy to develop the transit sector and activate the
North-South Transit Corridor. All port terminals are currently run by private companies.
Development
Negotiations for building six
Panamax bulk carrier
A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo — such as grains, coal, ore, steel coils, and cement — in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, eco ...
s and 10
Handymax
Handymax and Supramax are naval architecture terms for the larger bulk carriers in the Handysize class. Handysize class consists of Supramax (50,000 to 60,000 DWT), Handymax (40,000 to 50,000 DWT), and Handy (<40,000 DWT). The ships are used for ...
bulk carriers with the capacity of have been finalised with
Iran Shipbuilding & Offshore Industries Complex Co. (ISOICO) and
SADRA
The Iran Marine Industrial Company ( fa, شرکت صنعتی دریایی ایران), also known as SADRA, was founded in 1968 as a small ship repair yard in Bushehr. Since then, SADRA has established itself as the leading shipbuilding and shipr ...
shipyards respectively and if the prices are finalized, total value of contracts signed with domestic shipyards will surpass $600 million.
![Flickr - Israel Defense Forces - IRISL - Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Flickr_-_Israel_Defense_Forces_-_IRISL_-_Islamic_Republic_of_Iran_Shipping_Lines.jpg)
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 worth of containers and, so far, 1,600 containers have been delivered. As per IRISL's director, Iran needs to purchase or build 40 vessels by 2009. Over the next two decades, Iran would also need 500 new ships, including 120 oil tankers, 40
liquefied natural gas
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the vol ...
(LNG) carriers and over 300 commercial vessels. In 2009, in a move aimed at further enhancing
Iran's shipbuilding industry, President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he will ban the purchase of foreign ships by Iranian organizations. Moreover, various kinds of industrial lubricants have been produced by
Pars Oil Company as well as
Behran Oil Company and, at present, about 70% of the lubricant needed by the fleet is supplied domestically.
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
ISOICO Iran Shipbuilding & Offshore Industries Complex Co (ISOICO) is an Iranian ship yard, located in the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz (37 km west Bandar Abbas City), active as shipbuilder and ship-repairer of different types of vessels and offshor ...
. The plant has the capacity to carry out maintenance works on large vessels with 500,000-ton capacity.
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 2003–04 fiscal year. According to the article 44(C) of the
Iranian Constitution
The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran ( fa, قانون اساسی جمهوری اسلامی ایران, ''Qanun-e Asasi-ye Jomhuri-ye Eslâmi-ye Iran'') was adopted by referendum on 2 and 3 December 1979, and went into force replac ...
, IRISL is ready for
privatization
Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
.
In 2016, IRISL ordered 10 ships by
Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. for the amount of $700 million, instead of placing the order with
its domestic naval industry.
International sanctions
IRISL is under sanctions by the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
, the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
and other parties.
The United States implemented the first series of sanctions against IRISL in September 2008.
Stuart Levey
Stuart A. Levey was the first Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence within the United States Department of the Treasury. He was sworn in on July 21, 2004 as a political appointee of President George W. Bush. President Barack O ...
, the
Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence
The Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence is a position within the United States Department of the Treasury responsible for directing the Treasury's efforts to cut the lines of financial support for terrorists, fight financial c ...
, explained, "Not only does IRISL facilitate the transport of cargo for U.N. designated proliferators, it also falsifies documents and uses deceptive schemes to shroud its involvement in illicit commerce IRISL's actions are part of a broader pattern of deception and fabrication that Iran uses to advance its nuclear and missile programs. That conduct should give pause to any financial institution or business still choosing to deal with Iran."
The UN followed with sanctions against IRISL in June 2010 as part of
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1929
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1929, adopted on 9 June 2010, after recalling resolutions 1696 (2006), 1737 (2006), 1747 (2007), 1803 (2008), 1835 (2008) and 1887 (2009) concerning the topics of Iran and non-proliferation, the Cou ...
. The European Union implemented its own sanctions against IRISL a month later in July 2010.
In 2012, the United States moved to clamp down on IRISL's use of deceptive front companies to shield its activities.
In October 2020, the US imposed sanctions on Chinese companies for doing business with IRISL, and in January 2021, the US sanctioned companies in Iran, China and the United Arab Emirates for doing business with IRISL.
[''MarineLink'', January 15, 2021]
US Imposes Fresh Sanctions on Iran
/ref>
See also
*Current Iranian Navy vessels
This list reflects the state of the mainline Iranian Navy, and does not include the vessels of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy.
List
See also
* List of equipment of the Navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
* List of f ...
*International rankings of Iran
The following are international rankings for Iran:
Agriculture
Communication and information technology
Demographics
Economy
Education
Energy
Environment and ecology
General
Globalization
Health
History and culture
...
* Iran Shipbuilding & Offshore Industries Complex Co
*National Iranian Tanker Company
The National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC, fa, شرکت ملی نفتکش ایران, ''Shirkat-e Mili-ye Nuftekâshi-ye Iran'') is a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company, which was privatized in 2009. As of 2011, NITC was owned by fu ...
*SADRA
The Iran Marine Industrial Company ( fa, شرکت صنعتی دریایی ایران), also known as SADRA, was founded in 1968 as a small ship repair yard in Bushehr. Since then, SADRA has established itself as the leading shipbuilding and shipr ...
*Transportation in Iran
Iran has a long paved road system linking most of its towns and all of its cities. In 2011 the country had of roads, of which 73% were paved. In 2008 there were nearly 100 passenger cars for every 1,000 inhabitants.
Trains operate on 11,106&nb ...
References
External links
* {{official, http://www.irisl.net/
Iran Ports and Shipping Organization
Iran Ports invest
Maroos Shipping Company
Iran Shipper Evades U.S. Blacklist
- WSJ
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
article about IRSL and sanctions against Iran
There have been a number of sanctions against Iran imposed by a number of countries, especially the United States, and international entities. Iran was the most sanctioned country in the world until it was surpassed by Russia following its inva ...
;Specialized reports
BMI - Iran Shipping Report - 2010
(86-page report on Iran Shipping industry)
Shipping companies of Iran
Transport companies established in 1979
Container shipping companies
1979 establishments in Iran
Iranian entities subject to the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctions