UANI

"Hapag-Lloyd's previous Bandar Abbas service had been jointly operated with South Korea's Hyundai Merchant Marine. A source familiar with the matter said Hyundai had reduced its shipping service to Iran and was closely monitoring the situation. 'Hyundai's vessels, however, en route via Bandar Abbas do not contain any refinery or nuclear-related products since those items are blacklisted,' the source said." (Reuters, "Sanctions blowback crippling Iran's shipping trade," 12/1/2011)

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Hyundai Merchant Marine is a container shipping company, part of the conglomerate Hyundai Group. It is an "integrated logistics company, operating around 160 state of the art vessels" (Company Website).

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After a ten year hiatus, Hyundai Merchant Marine resumed shipping to Iran through the port of Bandar Abbas (Business Monitor - "Hyundai MM Enticed Back to Iran After 10 Years", 5/25). Hyundai Merchant Marine's website gives addresses and contact listings for offices in Tehran and Bandar Abbas (Company Website).

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In the past, Iran has used foreign-operated vessels to ship weapons caches (Business Monitor - "Hyundai MM Enticed Back to Iran After 10 Years, 5/25).