BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb.22
Trend:
Iran is expected to launch direct shipping line to Latin America and Africa to carry out its non-oil exports, the head of trade and non-oil export commission in Iran Chamber of Cooperatives Babak Afghai said, Trend reports via ILNA.
"There have been requests from Latin American and African countries to establish a direct shipping line with Iran," he said.
"Iran's export cargo is currently shipped to these countries indirectly via Jebel Ali port. The cargo is shipped to the UAE and Jebel Ali port then exported to destination markets that have considering shipment cost and create trade risk between Iran and other countries. So, it has been approved that a regular direct shipping line would be established," he said.
"The ship's destination in Latin America would include Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador and some other countries, although Iran's trade volume with Brazil is not comparable with other countries," he said.
"The ships would stop at South Africa as the starting point of this direct shipping line, since the country has good ports and facility where Iran's cargo is distributed to other countries in Africa," he said.
"It is expected that Iran's private sector would export petrochemical products, construction materials and other commodities to ports in South Africa and then to ports in Latin American countries depending on the commodity's volume ," he said.
"Exclusive food items such as saffron and some canned food and even carpet could be part of Iran's export," he said.