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IRAN NEWS ECONOMIC DESK

Iranian authorities have rejected reports suggesting that ships carrying imports of food and grain have been stuck outside two main ports in southern Iran simply because American sanctions on the country are creating payment problems.

A senior government official in the southern Iranian province of Khuzestan confirmed on Thursday that ships carrying basic goods were waiting for discharge outside Imam Khomeini Port, Iran’s main port for goods, but he insisted they had been stuck because of increased import activity at the port.

The comments came after the Reuters news agency claimed in a report that at least 20 dry bulk ships carrying around one million tons of grains were waiting outside Imam Khomeini Port for unloading. It said other vessels had waited for weeks for their cargoes to be processed in the port and in Bandar Abbas, another major cargo port on the Persian Gulf.

Iran says cargo handling at Iranian ports has surged despite sanctions imposed on the country.

However, the government source ruled out payment issues and said that the ships remained anchored mainly because there have been changes to Iran’s import polices as the country seeks to increase inventories of basic goods and foods to cope with the sanctions.

“Assume that storage capacity in this port has been nearly three million tons but currently around six million tons of basic goods have entered this port,” the official told semi-official Tasnim news agency, adding, “It is obvious that some ships should wait for discharge.”

Iranian authorities said in August that imports for basic goods and foodstuffs have significantly increased this year amid efforts to offset the impacts of the American sanctions.

On Thursday, Reuters reported more than 20 ships carrying around one million tons of grain are stuck outside two ports in Iran as United States sanctions create payment problems and hamper the country’s efforts to import vital commodities.(No Ship Carrying Grain Held Up Outside Ports Over Payment)

Trading companies such as Bunge and China’s COFCO International have been hit by payment delays and additional costs of up to $15,000 a day as the renewed US restrictions stifle the processing of transactions, trade sources said.

Food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies are exempt from sanctions Washington reimposed after US President Donald Trump said he was walking away from a 2015 international deal over Iran’s nuclear program.

But the measures targeting everything from oil sales to shipping and financial activities have deterred several foreign banks from doing any Iranian business, including humanitarian deals such as food shipments.

The few remaining lenders still processing Iranian business face multiple hurdles to facilitate payments, as financing channels freeze up.

Six Western and Iranian sources said the situation was contributing to the cargoes being held up for more than a month outside Iran’s biggest ports for goods, at opposite ends of the Gulf in the Middle East: Bandar Imam Khomeini and Bandar Abbas.

The ships are carrying cargoes including soya beans and corn, mostly from South America, the sources said. The grain vessels are also visible through ship tracking data.

“There are no restrictions on humanitarian business, but you can’t get paid for it,” one European source said. “You can be waiting for months to get a payment.”

Another source said: “There is nervousness among traders about making more sales to Iran before the backlog [of ships] is cleared”.

A senior Iranian port official who declined to be named told Reuters there have been problems since U.S. sanctions were imposed on its financial system in November 2018.

“What has changed is that now the number of banks, traders that are staying away from doing business with Iran is increasing,” the official said.

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Commander of Khatam al-Anbia Construction Base says that Iran has built a large ship with the capacity of 113,000 tones and building 3 more other ships are underway.

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16A floor mosaic from one of Roman Emperor Caligula’s opulent private ships, which was stolen after World War Two, is on its way back to Italy from the US where it has been recovered from a private collection.
The 1st century AD marble, serpentine and porphyry mosaic came from one of Caligula’s ceremonial vessels, which was found at the bottom of Lake Nemi, near Rome, in the 1930s, Reuters reported.
The artifact, stolen from Italy’s Roman Ship Museum after the war, was seized by the New York district attorney’s office from the collection of an Italian woman living in New York following an Italian police investigation.
“The US have today given back to Italy several archeological treasures that came from clandestine digs or thefts in our country,” Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said. “They will all be returned to places from where the criminals took them.”
Among other Roman-era items recovered was a vase from the Puglia region dating to around 350 BC, which found its way to the New York Metropolitan Museum, and two amphorae from the 4th or 5th century BC. The vase was taken from an illegal dig in the 1980s. The artifacts also include Roman coins, books and manuscripts.
Caligula, whose real name was Gaius Julius Caesar, was emperor between 37 and 41 AD. Historical accounts describe him as an insane, violent and sadistic man who ordered killings at a whim.
He was a distant nephew of more famous Julius Caesar but, as every other Roman emperor, he also had the title of Caesar.

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