Azerbaijan, Baku, Jul.9/ Trend F.Milad/
The Central Insurance Company of Iran has announced its readiness to cover foreign oil tankers which are destined for Iranian ports.
The company's managing director Mohammad Karimi told the IRNA News Agency the decision has been made to deal with international sanctions against the Islamic Republic's oil sector.
The EU put into effect a ban on the importation, purchase, or shipping of Iranian oil as from July 1 and the Islamic Republic will see its oil exports fall by more than 50 per cent this month against last year's regular levels, costing it $3.4 billion of dollars a month in revenue.
The EU oil embargo has stopped European insurers who dominate the maritime sector from offering cover on Iranian crude.
The National Iranian Tanker Company managing director announced in December 2011 that 21 new tankers will be added to the national fleet by the end of 2013, raising the country's crude transportation capacity to 180 million tons per year.
"Currently, Iran has 49 oil tankers operating in the national fleet," the NITC director Mohammad Souri told Mehr news agency.
The Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines managing director, Mohammad-Hossein Dajmar, has said that according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Iran holds a 1.17 per cent share of the total shipping capacity in the world, placing the country in 19th position.
Iran's shipping line has currently 165 ships with a capacity of over 1000 GT and 13 million tons.
