NITC to list to help fund newbuild programme

Iran’s leading tanker firm is eyeing a listing to help fund its large fleet expansion plans in the wake of sanctions being lifted against the Middle Eastern republic.

Nasrollah Sardashti, commercial director at National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC), is quoted by Reuters today, saying: “We are planning to list NITC first on local exchanges and then we will go for overseas listing to raise funds.”

Ali-Akbar Safaei, managing director of NITC, was quoted earlier this month as saying the company was after 25 new ships.

NITC has a fleet of 69 tankers with a total of 15.5m dwt.

“We don’t have any plan to expand the size but we do have the plan for fleet renewal to replace some of the older ships,” Sardashti told Reuters.

Splash understands NITC and fellow Iranian line IRISL toured Korean and Chinese yards towards the end of last year and are expected to pen contracts for newbuilds in the coming month. One Korean analyst suggested combined newbuild orders between NITC and IRISL could be worth $6.7bn.