Maersk denies violating Iran sanctions
Maersk Line is denying allegations it is violating trade sanctions against Iran.
The allegations were leveled in letters to Nils Andersen, chief executive officer of the A.P. Moller – Maersk Group and to Defense Secretary Robert Gates by a group called United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI).
UANI's allegations also come one week after the Treasury Department said A.P. Moller's U.S.-flag shipping arm paid more than $3 million after providing unlicensed shipping services over nearly five years for cargo for Sudan and Iran.
The letter to Andersen from Mark D. Wallace, UANI president, said Maersk Group’s “continued business dealings in Iran violate U.S. law and, to the extent this relationship continues, Maersk shall no longer be eligible to receive contracts from the U.S. government.”
It said Maersk received almost $4 billion in contracts from the U.S. government in the past decade, most through its U.S.-flag shipping subsidiary Maersk Line Ltd., and 95 percent of which are awarded by the Defense Department.
Wallace, who held several positions in the George W. Bush administration, including ambassador to the United Nations, representative for U.N. management and reform, said a law signed by President Obama on July 1, the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 (CISADA) targets the Iranian oil and gas industry and “singles out shipping as an activity of particular concern.”
Wallace said it was his group’s understanding that Maersk vessels carried shipments “directly related to Iran’s petroleum and gas industries and accordingly, are also in violation of CISADA.”
But Christian Kledal, group general counsel for A.P. Moller – Maersk, said in a letter to Wallace that Maersk “was not aware of shipments violating CISADA”.
Kledal said Maersk does operate two offices in Iran, but that operating those offices do not violate CISADA, and that contrary to UANI’s allegations, it does not operate shipping terminals there.
Maersk does call the Shaheed Rajee Container Terminal in Bandar Abbas, he said, but it has found no evidence to support UANI's allegation that the terminal operator, Tidewater Middle East Co., is “principally owned and/or controlled” by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Maersk noted Tidewater is not on the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s list of “specially designated nationals” and presumably would be if it was IRGC-controlled. Maersk added it has found no provision in the new sanctions law supporting Wallace’s contention that “a non-U.S. company would act in violation of CISADA’s sanctions provisions simply for dealing with any entity affiliated with the IRGC.”
“Our primary objection is to their business in Iraq, period,” said Kimmie Lipscomb, a spokesperson for UANI. “We pressure companies to stop doing business in Iran because it helps prop up the authoritarian regime that is developing illegal nuclear weapons. We’ve had a lot of success with KPMG, Caterpillar, General Electric, so Maersk is just the latest in this line of companies.”
UANI has created prewritten letters on its Web site for readers to fill out and automatically send to Maersk executives and U.S. politicians asking companies to “cease doing business in Iran and with companies operating in Iran.”
Wallace told Gates that if Maersk “does not cease its sanctionable business activities in Iran under U.S. law, UANI feels strongly that Maersk should be debarred and suspended from future government contracts and included on the List of Parties Excluded from Federal Procurement and Nonprocurement maintained by the General Services Administration.”
Maersk is far from the only shipping company offering liner service out of Iran. American Shipper affiliate ComPair Data lists 20 of the 25 largest container liner companies running direct call services to and from Bandar Abbas, including Tehran based HDS Lines and services from ANL, China Shipping, CMA CGM, COSCO, CSAV, Delmas, Emirates, Evergreen, Gold Star, Hanjin, Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai, 'K' Line, KMTC, Libra-Montemar, Mediterranean Shipping Co., Messina, MISC, MOL, Norasia, OOCL, PIL, STX Pan Ocean, TSK Line, United Arab Shipping Co., Wan Hai and Yang Ming.
UANI's allegations follow a Treasury Department announcement last week that Maersk Line Ltd. (MLL) the U.S.-flag shipping arm of the A.P. Moller Group, paid more than $3 million to settle OFAC allegations that it violated U.S. regulations by providing unlicensed shipping services for 4,714 shipments of cargo to or from Sudan and Iran from January 2003 to October 2007.
The shipments did not originate in the United States, but apparently were mistakenly loaded and made part of their voyage to or from Iran, Maersk said.
Saying the alleged violations constituted a “non-egregious case,” OFAC imposed a fine of nearly $3.09 million, 5 percent of the base penalty amount, $61.77 million for the apparent violations.
Wallace complained that in light of the deal with OFAC, “Maersk’s statements are inconsistent with its behavior. As a company that does billions of dollars worth of business with the U.S. military, Maersk must be transparent about its business in Iran. We call on Maersk to disclose fully the extent and nature of its business in Iran.” ' Chris Dupin