Page 55 - IRANRptJul22

Iran to build its first hybrid tanker
Iran, Afghanistan ‘ambitious to connect Khaf-Herat railway to China via Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan
Iran, Qatar to launch shipping lines, mention made of building tunnel under Gulf
and 130,000 litres on the other. In just one week, confiscated fuel from boats amounted to 650,000 litres, a statement posted on the Guard’s official website said.
Last week, the IRGC seized a foreign vessel carrying 220,000 litres of smuggled fuel in the Gulf and detained its crew of 11, Iranian media reported.
The National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) has ordered the construction of an Aframax-type tanker from a local manufacturer, Shana news agency reports citing NITC CEO Hossein Shiva.
An Aframax vessel is an oil tanker with a deadweight between 80,000 and 120,000 metric tonnes. The term is based on the average freight rate assessment (AFRA), a tanker rate system created in 1954 by Shell Oil to standardise shipping contract terms.
"The Iranian Shipbuilding and Marine Industrial Complex (ISOICO) in Bandar Abbas received an order for the construction of an Aframax-type tanker. The contract will be signed in the near future," he was quoted as saying.
Shiva noted that the capacity of the new vessel will be 113,000 tonnes, it will be the first domestic hybrid vessel for Iran, which will be fuelled by liquefied natural gas (LNG) and fuel oil with a low sulphur content.
The head of NITC added that the tanker will be built in line with modern standards of the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
Iran and Afghanistan have plans to connect the emerging Khaf (Iran)-Herat (Afghanistan) railway to China, Iranian press have reported Iran’s Deputy Transport and Urban Development Minister Abbas Khatibi as stating.
Though project approval has not yet been obtained from either Tehran or Kabul, officials envisage delivering Iran-Afghanistan-China rail connectivity via a route east that would exit Afghanistan on the border with Tajikistan. From there, the route would continue east to Kyrgyzstan before entering China through the valleys of the Tian Shan mountain range. A likely terminus in China would purportedly be Kashgar, an oasis city in Southern Xinjiang, with existing spurs heading north to Urumqi and connecting to China’s high-speed national rail network and through west to Kazakhstan.
The Khaf-Herat railway was in December 2020 inaugurated as the first cross-border railway link between Iran and Afghanistan. However, an 85-km stretch in Afghanistan running from Ghurian to Herat is still to be completed. When finished, the railway line will extend across 225 km, linking Khaf in eastern Iran with Herat in western Afghanistan. Work on the line began as far back as 2007.
Iran and Qatar plan to launch regular shipping lines between the two countries’ ports, Iran’s Minister of Roads and Urban Development Rostam Ghasemi has announced.
Officials of Tehran and Doha are also discussing the possibility of one day constructing a tunnel under the Persian Gulf to link the two countries, PressTV has reported. However, the distance it would need to traverse would be more than 125 kilometres. Such infrastructure would cost many billions of dollars. Qatari and Iranian officials met on the development of transport, commercial and economic ties between the two countries.
They also agreed to expand cooperation between Qatar Air and Iranian destinations and connecting flights.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was due in Qatar on February 21 to participate in the Forum of Gas Exporting Countries, running from February 20 to 22.
55 IRAN Country Report July 2022 www.intellinews.com