TEHRAN (ISNA)-Sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran�s Shipping Lines (IRISL) would be lifted from January, said the IRISL Managing Director Mohammad Saiedi, adding the company plans to conclude agreements for building ships in coming weeks.

He has recently said that the company plans to join 10 top shipping lines of the world and it is following a special plan to join the international transportation.

This week, Lloyd�s List said that IRISL plans to return with a splash. It has outlined a fleet expansion shopping list consisting of 579,000 teu of container capacity, 2m dwt of dry bulk vessels and 1.6m dwt of tankers, all to be operational by 2020, according to Saeidi.

The return of Iran could also mark the opening up of a new trade lane for the global LNG carrier fleet, which is currently treated with overcapacity with some 159 vessels on order. Iran holds the world�s second largest reserves of natural gas, according to the Energy Information Administration. However, it accounts for less than 1% of global gas trade. The room for growth is clearly huge.

Iran plans to boost crude output by about 2m barrels per day, NIOC managing director Roknoddin Javadi said in Berlin on October 1. It pumped 2.8m bpd last month, according to Bloomberg. Iranian carrier NITC is expected to pick up some of this business, but many of its vessels have been used for storage so other vessels will be needed.

By ISNA