IRISL’s New Service Makes First Call in Hamburg

During the first call by its new general cargo service, representatives of state shipping company IRISL – Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines – joined staff of the Peter W. Lampke shipping agency and Terminal C. Steinweg in welcoming the Captain and crew of the SEVGI on May 17. The new general cargo service will call monthly at Hamburg as the only port in Germany, transporting conventional general cargo in addition to containers. The multipurpose vessels deployed are equipped with shipboard cranes. Apart from Iranian ports, the new service linking ports on the Persian Gulf with others in Northern Europe will call at additional ports in the Middle East when required.

The last previous clearance of one of IRISL’s conventional vessels had taken place at C. Steinweg’s Süd-West Terminal in Hamburg in May 2010. In recent years, international trade sanctions limited Iran to importing goods not affected by export restrictions. Calls by the Iranian state shipping company’s vessels in European ports were not permitted. Thanks to the resumption of foreign trade activities with Iran, especially in the export area, C. Steinweg is expecting an initially gradual, later substantial increase in seaborne cargo throughput with Iran, as well as the return of IRISL’s conventional liner service on the Elbe.

Germany is traditionally Iran’s largest Western trading partner. Hamburg, where many Iranians have settled, enjoys excellent and friendly relations with companies and state organizations in Iran. Before sanctions, Iran’s imports via Hamburg were mainly of grain, potash fertilizers, feedstuffs and machinery. Exports arriving in the Port of Hamburg from Iran were mainly fresh and tinned fruit, cotton and other threads, rubber and vegetables. C. Steinweg’s Süd-West Terminal, which possesses special equipment for handling especially bulky and heavy cargoes, will be loading machinery and plant for the Iranian oil, gas and mining sectors on the new conventional liner service. 

IRISL liner services will be represented in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands by Hamburg-based IRISL Agency (North) GmbH, with branches in Antwerp and Rotterdam. This is currently being set up by Peter W. Lampke GmbH & Co. KG (PWL) and IRISL (Europe) GmbH. Apart from the first call by the new conventional liner service, at the same time this cleared the IRISL’s containership Arzin at Eurogate Container Terminal in Hamburg, which since mid-March 2016 has linked Hamburg with ports in the Persian Gulf in the regular Europe Container Line (ECL) service.

The IRISL shipping company has operated for several decades regular container and conventional liner services with 170 of its own ships. In its East Asia service, for example, IRISL deploys vessels with a capacity of 6,500 TEU. Additional liner services with SE Asia are operated by 2,200-2,500 TEU ships. IRISL also offers container services from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean and East Africa.