Maersk Line has resumed calls to Iran after a five-year hiatus.
The resumption of service to Iran comes nearly a year after Maersk’s 2M Alliance partner Mediterranean Shipping Co. once again began sailing to the second-largest country in the Middle East.
“Global container trade has matured over the past years and is growing at a slower pace. Iran has the potential to be the market which stands out with faster growth,” said Christian Juul-Nyholm, managing director, United Arab Emirates cluster, Maersk Line.
The Iranian market represents about 700,000 forty-foot-equivalent units, said Marcus Connolly, head of sales, UAE Cluster.
Iran’s largest trading partners are China, the UAE, Iraq, Turkey, and South Korea, according to Global Trade Atlas. Ties between Iran and South Korea have warmed up after the sanctions were lifted, and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines during the summer launched a new service between the two countries.
China and the UAE in 2015 were by far the largest trading partners with Iran, amounting to 24.7 percent and 17.2 percent, respectively, of Iran’s international trade volumes, according to GTA. Iraq represented 7.6 percent, followed by Turkey at 6.4 percent and South Korea at 5.8 percent.
Those shares have shifted thus far in 2016 as Iran re-establishes trade ties that were cut off by the sanctions. China so far in 2016 amounted to 22.2 percent of Iran’s international trade, while the UAE shrank to 15.6 percent, Iraq rose to 8.3 percent, Turkey increased to 8 percent, and South Korea rose to 6.9 percent, according to GTA.
The opening of Iran presents opportunities on two fronts for Maersk Line parent Maersk Group, which recently split itself into two units, Transport & Logistics and Energy, to better weather the down market. In the midst of the shipping crisis a new market could both benefit the indebted carrier and the trade starved Middle Eastern nation.