Iran Inaugurates Direct Shipping Line to China
Iran on Monday inaugurated a shuttle shipping line between its Southern port of Bandar Abbas and China’s Dalian and Lianyungang ports.
“Direct transportation of goods between Bandar Abbas port and Dalian and Lianyungang ports in China and vice versa provides better services and create competitive advantages for the cargo owners,” Managing-Director of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines Company for Transportation with Containers Captain Hamzeh Keshavarz said.
“Decreasing the time of transit, cancelling the feeder and transshipment operations, reciprocity fees and the possibility to present lower prices, direct supply of goods from Dalian customs office and persuading cargo owners in Iranian ports to ship their commodities through the national container line are among the advantages of the inauguration of this line,” he added.
Iranian and Chinese officials have on several occassions underlined the need for the further expansion of bilateral relations and exchanges, specially in trade fields.
During an April meeting in Tehran, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Morteza Sarmadi and the outgoing Chinese Ambassador to Tehran, Yu Hongyang, explored avenues for bolstering and reinvigorating mutual cooperation
Sarmadi pointed to a meeting between Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Bishkek on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) earlier this year, and underlined the need for continued cooperation between the two countries within the framework of their joint economic commission and exchange of visits by their senior officials.
The outgoing Chinese ambassador, for his part, briefed the Iranian deputy foreign minister on the efforts made during his mission in Tehran, and also stressed that senior officials in his country are strongly determined to strengthen ties with Iran.
“China attaches a lot of importance to the reinforcement of ties with Iran as an important and trustworthy partner,” he underlined.
The senior diplomat expressed satisfaction in the status quo of Iran-China bilateral ties, and said, “There are vast potentials for continuing the upward trend of the two countries’ ties in all the various fields.”
Trade between Iran and China in the past year was estimated at $45 billion.
Iran is currently China’s third largest supplier of crude, providing Beijing with roughly 12 percent of its total annual oil consumption.
According to the figures released by China’s General Administration of Customs in January, China’s crude oil imports from Iran reached 2.5 million tons (mt) in December 2012, up 43 percent from November.
The official data showed that China’s daily crude imports from Iran in December 2012 also rose 3.6 percent compared to December 2011.
It marks China’s biggest crude import from Iran since it won a renewal of exemption from the United States’ oil embargo against Iran.
FNA
