MSC Returns to Iran

 

MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A has resumed vessel operations to Iran, after services were suspended in 2012 in response to trade sanctions. From April 2014, to maintain services to customers, MSC partially resumed operations by utilizing a third party feeder service which allowed cargo to be transshipped in Jebel Ali. On December 31, 2015, MSC’s 9,400 TEU vessel MSC Domitille called at the southern Iran port of Shahid Rajei (Bandar Abbas), marking the beginning of regular calls for MSC and paving the way for resuming business with Iran.

MSC Domitille discharged 599 TEUs of cargo, or 300 containers of foodstuffs as well as agricultural commodities. The vessel operates on the New Falcon service, between Asia and the Middle East, with transit times of 21 days from Shanghai to Shahid Rajei.

Port rotation is as follows: Xingang, Busan, Ningbo, Shanghai, Fuzhou, Chiwan, Tanjung Pelepas, Singapore, Colombo, Jebel Ali, Bandar Abbas, Ad Dammam, Jubail, Jebel Ali, Mundra, Nhava Sheva, Singapore, Nansha, Xingang.

MSC’s president and CEO Diego Aponte was invited to Iran last year by the government for informal meetings with logistics partners to better understand the trading landscape and prepare the ground for business operations in post-sanctions Iran.