TEHRAN - Iran will act as a ‘driving force’ in the world’s maritime transportation sector now that sanctions are being lifted against the country, National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) Managing Director Ali-Akbar Safaei said in Tehran on Sunday.

He made the remarks in a conference to celebrate the 60th foundation anniversary of NITC, which was attended by representatives of 350 Iranian and 300 foreign companies, mainly from Europe.

As Iran plans to increase its oil exports in the post-sanctions time and also develop its South Pars gas field (in the Persian Gulf), demand for the country’s oil and gas as well as LNG and LPG will increase in the world and it will lead to more demands for Iran’s maritime transportation, Safaei stated.

As a result, Iran will definitely have short-, mid- and long-term positive effects on the maritime transportation industry in the world, he added.

Holding 157 billion barrels of crude oil and 34 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, Iran is the fourth largest holder of oil and the first largest holder of gas in the world, the official said, noting that this status creates a very good potential for the country’s maritime transportation sector.

*** ‘NITC, a reliable partner for foreign firms’

As the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has conditioned the activity of foreign investors in Iran on having Iranian partners, NITC, which enjoys a large capital, high experience and global reputation, could be a reliable partner for them, Safaei highlighted.

“We would make a very professional cooperation with the foreign companies in all areas of activity”, he noted.

Despite many political and economic crises in the region and world over the past years, like imposed war on Iran, global recession and also the West-led sanctions against the country, NITC managed to achieve many successes in different fields for example in terms of income and also support of oil exports, the official asserted.

He further mentioned the strategic objectives of the company as diversifying activities and incomes, strengthening manpower as its main property, having the highest level of maritime safety and the highest protection of the environment, controlling and optimizing the expenses, and developing the fleet.

*** ‘Oil accounts for 30% of world’s maritime transport’

Elsewhere in his remarks, Safaei said oil and related products account for over 30 percent of maritime transportation in the world.

He said 10.8 billion tons of commodities have been carried through maritime transportation in 2015 and said the figure is anticipated to reach 11 billion tons in 2016.

The world’s population growth experienced a double-fold rise, while the maritime transportation growth witnessed a three-fold rise in 2014, the official noted.

*** ‘NITC can play significant role in post-sanctions era’

Addressing the same gathering, Iranian Cooperative, Labor, and Social Welfare Minister Ali Rabiei said the NITC can play a significant role in Iran in the post-sanctions time.

The company is ready to create a new condition for itself once the sanctions are lifted against the country, the minister noted.

NITC has played an important role in the country’s “Resistance Economy” and its role will be even stronger in the future, he added.

The official said the expansion of international activities is a main objective of the company; therefore, it plans to offer some part of its shares in the global stock markets.

*** ‘Promising future for NITC’

Rabiei further said that he sees a promising future for NITC in Iran’s post-sanctions time.

NITC will become a big player in terms of maritime transportation in the region, he asserted.

The minister mentioned cooperation and making joint venture with the world’s major insurance companies as one of the main objectives of NITC and expanding the company’s environmental protection activities as one of its other objectives.

NITC is a subsidiary of NIOC. The Iranian oil shipping company has the world’s largest fleet of super tankers. 

Iranian Ministry of Cooperative, Labor, and Social Welfare is the main shareholder of the company.

U.S. sanctions barred the Iranian fleet of about 170 vessels from sailing in the international waters. They also prohibited international shipping companies from calling on Iranian ports.    

*** ‘NITC boasts highest safety rating’

“We have been working very closely with NITC before the sanctions and have done it for many years. NITC, I can say, had the highest safety rating among the other companies we are working with,” Mikael Lindholm, the managing director of Varada Marine, a Norwegian company active in marketing and operation of modern anchor handling tug supply vessels (AHTS), oil recovery vessels (ORV) and platform supply vessels (PSV), told the Tehran Times.

“It [NITC] has the largest classification society in the world; so, we got quite some benchmark, and of course we hope that we will be able to be a part of that in the future,” he noted.

“We are in deep discussions with NITC for making investment in their projects and transferring technology to them and we anticipate that we will work closely with them,” the Norwegian director stated.

He said his company is keen to cooperate with the NITC in a wide range of activities such as offering of training services and updating NITC on the latest international regulations.

“But, it is to do basically with ensuring their fleet gets back to what it was before’, he asserted.

*** ‘NITC, well-equipped to go back to international market’

“I feel NITC is well equipped to go back to the international market,” said Mark Collins, the head of Mediterranean and Middle East Division of the London office of “The Standard Club”, an international marine and energy insurer.

It’s a company that can compete with all the international tanker companies, he commented.

It has a very good management and it focuses very much on the safety and also on the health of environment, he added.

“Maybe our company will come and set up an office here [in Iran] if we will be successful within a contract,”, he stated.

*** ‘Sanctions removal, a big chance for NITC’

Lifting of sanctions creates a big chance for the NITC, said Petros Monogios, the director and chief operating officer of the Greek Lemissoler Navigation Company.

“It’s a big company. They are dealing with the products that are very important for the country; so by the sanctions being lifted they can go ahead,” he noted.

“We are actually taking this opportunity, because we have been invited by the NITC to explore the ideas to work together,” the Greek director stated.

*** ‘Sanctions lift provides many opportunities for NITC’

“I think removal of sanctions will open up many opportunities for the NITC for a lot more international development; so it should be an exciting time,” said Andrew Westwood, the senior vice president of England’s DNV.GL, which provides classification and technical assurance along with software and independent expert advisory services to the maritime, oil & gas and energy industries. 

“We are in the insurance sector; so we are just hoping that we can form some alliances with NITC to support some of the industries here,” he stated.