UANI Applauds Evergreen, Yang Ming, CSCL for Ending Iran Operations

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 2, 2013 

Contact: Nathan Carleton, [email protected] 

Phone: (212) 554-3296

 

UANI Applauds Evergreen, Yang Ming, CSCL for Ending Iran Operations

 

New York, NY - Today, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) announced that following its

Ports Authority Campaign, shippers Evergreen, Yang Ming, and China Shipping Container Lines Co. (CSCL) have ended their Iran operations. 

 

In a March 15, 2013 Wall Street Journal Op-Ed, "Closing U.S. Ports to Iran-Tainted Shipping," UANI CEO, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, highlighted international shipping firms such as Taiwan's Evergreen and Yang Ming that were accessing both Iranian and U.S. ports.

 

Wrote Ambassador Wallace: "At Bandar Abbas, Iran's largest port, ships bearing the distinctive 'Evergreen' insignia dock and unload their cargo. On the other side of the world, Evergreen vessels make their scheduled calls at Los Angeles Harbor ..."

 

UANI also in March unveiled an interactive Ports Authority Database, for individuals to see which U.S. and Canadian ports were providing services to shipping companies active in Iran.

 

Since the campaign's launch, UANI has consulted with Evergreen, Yang Ming, and CSCL regarding their withdrawals from Iran.

 

In correspondence with UANI, Yang Ming stated that "in March this year Yang Ming took a decision to restructure its service offerings in the Middle East and pursuant to this has terminated the service to Iran."

 

CSCL stated to UANI that "we have decided to cease all Iran service (including cargo import/export to/from Iran) after July 1, 2013."

 

In discussions with Iran, Evergreen also committed to end its port calls to Iran.

 

Said Ambassador Wallace:

 

We applaud Evergreen, Yang Ming, and CSCL for ending their Iran business. The Iranian regime has long relied on ocean transportation for the import of raw materials required for the nuclear program, and these decisions will hamper those efforts.

 

The success of this campaign shows once again the power of the American pocketbook in forcing companies out of Iran. All businesses operating in Iran should be presented with a clear choice: stop doing business in Iran, or stop doing business with the U.S.

 

UANI has frequently highlighted the shipping industry as an area where the international community can further pressure Iran. In a 2012 Journal Op-Ed, six UANI board members wrote that "the world must deny Iran's access to international shipping, a move that would severely affect the regime given its dependence on global trade and seaborne crude oil exports."

 

Last year, all thirteen of the world's major classification societies stopped certifying Iranian vessels following UANI's campaign, including Bureau Veritas, Germanischer Lloyd, the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping, the Korean Register of Shipping, the China Classification Society, and ClassNK. UANI has also announced that Barbados, Hong Kong, Moldova and Mongolia have stopped their reflagging of Iranian vessels.

 

Click here to read Ambassador Wallace's Op-Ed, "Closing U.S. Ports to Iran-Tainted Shipping."

Click here to use UANI's interactive Ports Authority Database.

Click here to learn more about UANI's Shipping Campaign.

 

###