The Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line Group (IRISL) says revenues of the company topped $778 million in the year ending June 21 despite a series of harsh US sanctions seeking to choke off the country’s trade.
IRISL CEO Mohammad Reza Modarres Khiabani said on Wednesday that the state-run shipping lines had carried more than 23 million metric tons of cargoes over the 12-month period, a sign that US sanctions had barely disrupted trade to and from Iran.
“This figure has been achieved despite the oppressive sanctions and the coronavirus outbreak,” said Modarres Khiabani, making a reference to lower demand for container shipping around the world as a result of the pandemic.
He said that IRISL’s share of operations in southern Iranian ports, frequented by international container ships, had been around 19 percent in the year ending late June, adding that the group had less than a third of the market in northern Iranian ports over the same period.
Modarres Khiabani said a key issue in IRISL’s operation over the 12-month period was to comply with strict international standards on the use of new fuels for its ships.
He said the company had spent a total of $145 million on low-sulfur fuels, half of which had been obtained trough foreign suppliers, to comply with mandatory regulations of the International Maritime Organizations that came into effect in early 2020.
That caused the net profit of the IRISL to drop to juts more than $14 million, he said, adding that gross profits over the year in question had amounted to nearly $85 million.
He said shipping large cargoes of Iranian fuel to Venezuela, a country also under American sanctions, was a major victory for the IRISL, describing the conclusion of the operation in June as a historic moment for the company.