World's Second-Biggest Shipping Line Keen for Cooperation with Iran


TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. (MSC), the world's second-largest shipping line in terms of container vessel capacity, welcomed the Tuesday nuclear agreement reached between Iran and six world powers and voiced its readiness to cooperate with Tehran.

In a Wednesday meeting with Head of Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) Mohammad Hossein Dajmar, MSC's CEO Diego Aponte said his company is willing to cooperate with the IRISL in diverse areas.

The Geneva-based Swiss company operates in all major ports of the world.

Aponte further hailed the performance of IRISL over the past seven years under the pressure of toughest international sanctions as “admirable”.

The meeting came after the European Union on Tuesday extended the suspension of sanctions on shipping firms owned by IRISL for six months.

The EU had imposed the embargoes over on the unfounded accusation that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

Some of the sanctions were suspended later after Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) reached an interim nuclear agreement in Geneva, Switzerland, in late 2013.

After the Geneva Deal, the two sides continued their negotiations over Tehran's nuclear program for months.

The negotiating parties reached a conclusion over the text of a comprehensive deal on Tehran's nuclear program on Tuesday, July 14.