Iran has world's 4th largest tanker company
The National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) says the firm is the world's fourth largest oil tanker operator, vowing to upgrade the ranking of the company to the second place by 2013, IRNA reports.
"This company owns 50 very large crude carriers (VLCCs) [with the capacity] of 300 to 320 tons which amounts to 10 percent of the world's VLCC fleet, which currently stands at 500 vessels,” the NITC Manager Director Mohammad Souri said.
Addressing a national conference of marine organizations, Souri said the ships owned by the company have a capacity of 17.922 million tons and have the capability of transferring 170 million tons of commodities on a yearly basis.
The National Iranian Tanker Company is regarded as the fourth largest firm in the world, the official said and noted, “We will soon be the world's second [largest] company .”
The NITC, a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company was privatized in 2009. It carried 104 million tons of crude last year - 51 percent of which went to Europe.
On Tuesday, Souri called for an increase in the share of the country's private sector in different economic and industrial fields to pave the way for the government to focus on “strategic planning.”
Earlier in the year, NITC Area Manager Captain R. Qareh said the company would expand its fleet by 72 percent with the help of 22 VLCCs.
He also downplayed western sanctions imposed on Iran as ineffective, saying that the NITC continues to carry crude produced by Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Total SA, in addition to oil from Saudi Aramco as well as other producers in Kuwait and the UAE capital Abu Dhabi.
