TEHRAN (Iran News) –Head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line Group (IRISL) says the group is investing some $1.5b for expansion of its fleet in order to expand its services.
Speaking in the first national conference on marine civilization on course of progress, the CEO of IRISL Mr. Mohammad Reza Modarres Khiabani said IRISL has proved the world its national and international power, and the best example to this claim is the transportation of Iran oil to Venezuela with tankers belonging to the IRISL which could hoist the flag of Iran on two Venezuela-bound oil tankers.
He added that IRISL is active in different fields and it supports domestic human forces as well as having serious presence in international waterways in a way that this national fleet trains some 200 people annually who are volunteer to join the field of seafaring.
He noted that IRISL has 6700 staff that over 3700 of them are active in the field of seafaring while the group has currently 137 vessels with capacities of 5m tons, and expressed hope that on the course of progress which has been set by the group this capacity would rise.
Modarres Khiabani further said that the group currently has some 194,000 container boxes and the group has done some investment in parallel to possessing these containers and this year 40,000 TEU containers worth of $120m have been bought by the group. He added that this fleet also includes rail and road transportation which actually forms combined transportation which has been continued with 1200 freight wagon.
He noted that the group has transported over 16m tons of goods in 7 months which shows 4% growth comparing to the same period last year while the group has experienced 41% growth comparing to two years ago.
Modarres Khiabani reiterated that the group by defining a new policy has almost zeroed the number of its foreign personnel while in the past some 600 foreigners were busy in the group and only few have remained due some certain issues.
He also said that reinforcing the North-South and East-West corridor is one of the main strategic strategies of the IRISL and for this reason last week a regular line for shipping container cargo from Far East to Chabahar was launched that following it, a ship was to dock at Chabahar Port on Thursday night.
Modarres Khiabani went on to say that between 2022 and 2026 some $1.15b of investment has been considered for broadening sea-centered economy and $325m will be earmarked for the purchase of containers and on the whole $2.5b will be spent for increasing the number of vessels to the fleet to replace the old ones.
He stated that the group is working to shift from being a marine transportation company to become a logistic company and this requires some software and hardware tools which are being provided.
He said that development of Chabahar route is on the agenda and expressed hope all related executive bodies and countries in locating in this route do their jobs very well and IRISL is ready to do required cooperation in this regard.
