EU oil sanctions kick in on Sunday
A South Korean ship classification society faces pressure from a U.S. lobby group to stop verifying safety and environmental standards for Iran’s biggest shipping companies as tightening U.S. and European sanctions restrict its oil exports.
Without verification from such bodies, ships are unable to call at international ports.
U.S. group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), in a letter sent this week to the Korean Register of Shipping (KR), urged the society to stop providing classification and certification services to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), its front companies and the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC).
“KR’s irresponsible decision to provide certification services at a time when responsible businesses are leaving Iran undermines the efforts of the international community to isolate the Iranian regime,” Mark Wallace, UANI’s chief executive and a former U.S. ambassador wrote in the letter dated June 25.
A targeted campaign by UANI, which includes former U.S. ambassadors on its board and is funded by private donations, had led Germany’s Germanischer Lloyd and France’s Bureau Veritas to drop their classification cover for Iranian shipping firms.
“It is not simply a question of KR violating relevant sanctions provisions, but of following a responsible course of action,” Wallace said, calling for a response by July 2.
A KR official said on Thursday the society was looking into all measures.
“KR provides limited classification services to a small number of Iranian ships as part of its ongoing contractual responsibilities,” it added in a statement.
“KR continues to monitor the situation concerning Iran and closely follows all relevant international regulations. KR’s policy is to comply, without compromise, with all national and international regulations concerning Iran.”
Classification societies are hired by ship owners to regularly check that vessels, from their hull and propulsion systems to the machinery and appliances, meet international safety standards. Under international conventions, a classification is required for a ship to dock at major ports.
IRAN HIT BY EXODUS
Tehran has faced a series of blows in recent weeks with the exodus of other top classifiers such as Britain’s Lloyd’s Register and Norway’s Det Norske Veritas.
As western powers pile pressure on the Islamic Republic over its disputed nuclear programme, firms that still trade with Iran are in the line of fire.
IRISL has been on a Western blacklist for a number of years, while NITC faces potential sanctions after the U.S. Senate passed a bill last month that aims to target Iran’s biggest tanker operator.
Asia’s top buyers of Iranian oil cut imports by more than a quarter of a million barrels per day in the first five months of the year as they prepared for U.S. sanctions that take effect on Thursday and EU curbs that bite from Sunday.
South Korea this week became Iran’s first major Asian customer to announce a halt in imports from July after the government failed to convince EU leaders to give it waivers on an insurance ban on tankers carrying Iranian oil.
A senior NITC official told Reuters this month that it had alternative ship classification cover. Shipping sources had previously pointed to the likelihood of provision from Asia.
The China Ship Classification Society said it did not class Iranian tankers.
“NITC will have to be inventive, and if they cannot sail anywhere, floating storage might be the only option they have,” a ship industry source said.
“If they do not have the certification in place, they are unable to trade in international waters and call at international ports – at least those that support sanctions or do not want to be in breach of them.”
NITC officials could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
Iran-based shipping sources said in April that Iran had been forced to deploy more than half of its national tanker fleet to store oil at anchorage. That proportion has since increased, trade sources say.
Source: Reuters
