German Shipping Company Ends Port Calls to Iran

On Thursday, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) applauded German shipping company Reederei Rudolf Schepers GmbH & Co KG (Reederei Rudolf Schepers) for ending port calls to Iran.

Last month, UANI wrote to Reederei Rudolf Schepers, and raised concerns with the business of its vessel, the TS Jakarta. The TS Jakarta had been making calls at Bandar Abbas port, which is operated by the sanctioned entity Tidewater Middle East Co. Wrote UANI: "UANI calls upon Reederei Rudolf Schepers to follow the lead of other multinational companies, such as Maersk Line, and end port calls of its vessels to Iran."

In response, Reederei Rudolf Schepers contacted UANI, and stated that the TS Jakarta, now renamed, "will not call any Iranian ports in the future." Continued Reederei Rudolf Schepers: "Also our other ships will not call Iranian ports in the future."

Said UANI CEO, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace:

We applaud Reederei Rudolf Schepers for ending port calls to Iran. This was the right decision, and eliminates one more avenue the Iranian regime was using to evade sanctions. No responsible shipper can continue to make port calls to Iran, as the regime is known to falsify cargoes, illegally export weapons to terrorists, and import supplies for its nuclear program.

Iran's shipping industry is collapsing, as insurers, classification societies, and shippers have ceased their business with the country. Any shippers still doing business in Iran are complicit in the regime's unlawful actions, and should pull out immediately.

Reederei Rudolf Schepers joins shippers such as Evergreen, Yang Ming, CSCL, Maersk, and CMA CGM in recently ending port calls to Iran.

UANI has specifically targeted the shipping industry since last year as a means of pressuring Iran. In a 2012 Wall Street Journal Op-Ed, six UANI board members wrote that "the world must deny Iran's access to international shipping, a move that would severely affect the regime given its dependence on global trade and seaborne crude oil exports."

Last year, all thirteen of the world's major classification societies stopped certifying Iranian vessels following UANI's campaign, including Bureau Veritas, Germanischer Lloyd, the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping, Korean Register of Shipping, China Classification Society, and ClassNK. UANI has also announced that Barbados, Hong Kong, Moldovaand Mongolia have stopped their reflagging of Iranian vessels.

UANI's "Germany Campaign" highlights the extensive Iran business activities of German businesses, firms and entities. German businesses are bolstering the Iranian economy and expanding Iranian industrial capacity at a time when the international community is working to economically isolate the Iranian regime.

Click here to ready UANI's full July 22, 2013 letter to Reederei Rudolf Schepers.