Iranian vessels are now easily skirting around the E.U. sanctions.
Though the sanctions from the E.U. against Iranian oil tanker coverage had been making insurance news with their efficacy when they were first set into place in July, the Middle Eastern country has since shown that it is no longer struggling with those bans.
The coverage embargoes are no longer in the way of Iran’s crude shipments.
According to the Central Insurance of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s deputy head for planning and development, Rahim Mosaddeq, “Most of the sanctions are imposed against the oil industry and we have taken the p
recautionary measures against possible dangers and damages and insured our oil tankers.”
The latest insurance news from the country has shown that 24 out of 25 Iranian insurers are privately owned.
The sanctions from the European Union have stated that none of their insurers can provide P&I coverage for tankers transporting Iranian crude. This is significant insurance news as those insurers had been responsible for covering about 90 percent of the global shipping tonnage. However, since the announcement of the July 1, 2012 embargo was first made, Iran worked to find ways around the bans and has since reinstated most of its shipments.
For example, many of the shipments to India are being accomplished through vessels that have received an American waiver and are therefore still permitted to carry the oil from Iran. India has been making insurance news by providing its own coverage for the tankers. At the same time, though, Mr. S. Hajara, the chairman and managing director of the Shipping Corporation of India Ltd. stated in August that the coverage provided by the Indian government had “proved to be most inadequate.”
Equally, Iran has also been making international insurance news through its open willingness to provide its own coverage for foreign vessels that will either use its oil or carry its crude. Earlier in September, Javad Sahamian, the Iran Insurance Company chairman, stated that the country would provide coverage for any vessel that carries crude oil from Iran. That said, the details of this offer were not revealed at that time.
