Speaking to Shana, NITC’s managing director, Ali Akbar Safaei, said before imposing sanctions, NITC’s transportation capacity stood at 14 million tons per year, but it has grown to 16 million tons over the past one year and a half.

According to Safaei, NITC has a fleet of 67 oil tankers of various sizes and plans to expand its gas transportation fleet in the near future as well.  

“‘Oil tankers need various kind of certifications for navigation in international waters and all NITC’s tankers have these certificates including safety, security, environment and qualified marine personnel certificates”, he said.

He added that with the full lifting of US and EU sanctions against Iran in the coming months, NITC will regain the markets it has lost in the past years.

Safaei said last week that the sanctions relief will remove all obstacles about insurance coverage and banking services required for crude oil exports to China, India, Turkey, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea.

On January 20, the Council of the European Union suspended part of the sanctions it had imposed against Iran following the nuclear deal between Tehran and the six powers - the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany - in Geneva, Switzerland, in November 2013.

The new measure incorporates the suspension of a 2012 ban on insuring and transporting Iran’s crude oil and the sanctions on trade in gold, precious metals and petrochemical products.