CMA CGM shipowner to stop serving Iran

The French group CMA CGM, world number 3 in container shipping, decided to withdraw from Iran "because of the Trump administration" and sanctions against Tehran, announced Saturday, July 7, its CEO Rodolphe Saadé, at the Economic Meeting of Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhone).

The French shipowner had signed in 2016 a Memorandum of Understanding with the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines to exchange or lease spaces for ships, operate joint shipping lines and cooperate on the use of port terminals.

Asked RTL on the sidelines of the meetings, the CEO of Total Patrick Pouyanné, who had already announced that he would withdraw from a large gas project in Iran for lack of an exemption from Washington, badured that he had no other "choice": [19659006] "You can not lead an international group in 130 countries without access to the American financial world. So, in fact, US law applies and therefore we have to leave Iran.

Reinstatement of American sanctions

But "I hope that one day we can return to Iran" continued Mr. Pouyanné. According to him, Total lost "40 million dollars" because of the abandonment of his project in Iran. "At the scale of Total, which invests $ 15 billion a year, it is not much" he said.

Donald Trump announced in early May the withdrawal the United States of the agreement and the reinstatement of sanctions against Iran as well as against all companies with links to the Islamic Republic.

Washington had specified that the sanctions would be effective immediately for new contracts and had given up to one hundred and eighty days for foreign companies to cease trading with Iran.

See also:
        
    
                Logistics, a new big bet for the CMA CGM maritime carrier