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China Classification Society Applauded for Ending Its Certification of Iranian Vessels

Published Nov 23, 2012 10:45 AM by The Maritime Executive

All 13 International Classification Societies have Now Stopped Services

United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) applauded the China Classification Society (CCS) for ending its certification of Iranian vessels. CCS is the 13th and final major international classification society to stop certifying vessels from Iran.

On October 3, UANI publicly called on CCS to end its certification services and stop "directly facilitating the ability of the Iranian regime to circumvent multilateral sanctions."

UANI and CCS have been in discussions since that time. In those discussions, CCS stated that it has stopped certifying Iranian vessels, and that as of now "there is not any ship flying Iranian flag or owned by Iranian shipowner in our fleet, and we have not conducted any statutory survey for any Iranian ship."

UANI applauds this decision and will list CCS as having ended its certifying of Iranian vessels.

Said UANI CEO, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace: 

We applaud CCS for this decision and refusing the certification of Iranian vessels. All of the world's major shipping certifiers have now ended their certification of Iranian vessels. Iranian vessels will be prohibited from entry in many of the world's ports.

Yet more must be done. We call for even tougher sanctions: any vessel that docks in Iran or transports Iranian cargo should be barred from accessing ports in the U.S., EU, or elsewhere.

CCS joins the twelve other prominent shipping services, including Bureau Veritas, Germanischer Lloyd, the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping, the Korean Register of Shipping, and ClassNK in its decision.

UANI has highlighted the shipping industry as an area where the international community can further pressure Iran. In a March 17 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."