Iran Containership to be Launched

Persian Gulf, the largest bulk containership of Iran’s commercial fleet is to be launched in the Chinese port of Shanghai on April 25. The 74,000-ton ship is the fourth carrier built by China’s Jiangnan Shipyard Corporation, a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), which is located in Changxing Island. The company had earlier built and launched three ships of the same type, Panamax, 225 meters long, named Iran Tabas, Iran Bojnurd, and Iran Birjand. Iran Bojnurd was launched in Shanghai last November. Iran had submitted its orders to Jiangnan Shipyard, formerly named Jiangnan Shipbuilding Works, three years ago. The first of the ordered ships, named Iran Tabas, was launched in July 2005. The Chinese shipbuilder is supposed to launch another bulk carrier of the Panamax type (Iran Bam) in the next two months. The 2003 contract between Iran and the Chinese company was valued at $116m. In 2000, the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) had signed a contract with the Dalian-based China Shipbuilding Industries Corporation upon which the Chinese undertook to build five 300,000-ton oil tankers for Iran. (Source: MehrNews.com)