Taiwanese Shipping Company Halts Services to Iran

The Taiwanese shipping company Yang Ming has stopped its maritime transport services to Iran, citing concerns over new sanctions against Tehran and regional tensions. Reuters reported this news on Friday, April 20, quoting internal sources from the company, noting that Yang Ming is the first foreign company to halt its services to Iran since the lifting of international sanctions over a year ago. According to an executive from the company, the reason for the cessation of direct services to Iran is 'concerns about increasing tensions in the region.' This unnamed executive told Reuters that recent sanctions against Iran, ongoing geopolitical tensions in the region, and the situation between Iran, the U.S., and Europe were considered in making this decision. Reuters also mentioned that it cannot independently confirm whether the service cut is due to new concerns about Tehran or economic issues faced by the Taiwanese company. Last Thursday, the company officially announced that it would suspend part of its business activities until May 4, two weeks later, in an effort to compensate for losses affected by the global shipping recession. In this context, the Yang Ming executive described the suspension of activities on some Asian routes as influenced by the global economic downturn but insisted that the main reason for cutting direct services to Iran is geopolitical issues, not cost reductions. According to Reuters, Yang Ming is trying to reduce its costs after incurring a $62 million loss in the last quarter of 2016. Yang Ming is the ninth-largest shipping company in the world, but it has relatively limited operations in Iran, servicing the country once a week. The news agency also noted that since the lifting of international sanctions against Iran, larger companies have been providing services in Iran. Meanwhile, Reuters writes that the cessation of this Taiwanese company's services to Iran could be seen in the maritime transport industry as another indication that dealing with Iran has not been as facilitated as expected when the nuclear sanctions were lifted.