Lloyds halts assessing Iran tankers under intense US pressure
Maritime risk management firm, Lloyd’s Register (LR), has decided to stop assessing nearly 60 tankers and containerships owned by the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) and the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, surrendering to intense US pressure, Bloomberg reports.
The move follows the decision made late last year by another tanker assessment firm, the DNV, to end its ties with Iran due to US-led pressure to cease trading with the country.
This comes while at least four other international class societies still continue to assess Iranian tanker vessels.
According to a report released by the LR, firm’s Chief Executive Richard Sadler has said at a Singapore conference that “the Americans came to us and said that if we continue to work for the Iranians we would be blacklisted in America.”
The LR has confirmed the closure of the Iran office in a statement, noting that such decisions “were not taken quickly or easily as Lloyd’s Register has been operating successfully in Iran since 1936.”
Iran is the second largest oil producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the LR has lost around USD 4.8 million in annual business following its pullout from the Islamic Republic, according to the statement released by the firm.
Other international classification societies have, however, been more reluctant to give up their dealings with Iran.
The Germanischer Lloyd (GL), which gave a low-key response to the LR announcement, does not seem to be considering any changes to its business policy for the time being.
The GL provides classification for a number of IRISL’s container ships, some of which are still on order, and has offices in Tehran and Bandar Abbas for maritime and oil and gas operations.
The US and the EU have imposed new financial sanctions as well as oil embargoes against Iran, claiming that the country’s nuclear energy program includes a military component.
Tehran refutes such allegations, stressing that frequent inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency have never found any diversion in Iran's nuclear energy program toward military purposes.