NITCthroughout History
National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) was established in 1955 in order to distribute petroleum products in the Persian Gulf islands and ports and ship out oil from Iran. The raison d'etre of this company dates back to struggles by then Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq against the British government and the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, which later become BP.
Following the nationalization of oil industry in Iran, the British government imposed one of the toughest ever embargoes on Iran in terms of oil sales and transport. Britain imposed a ban on Iran oil sales. Moreover, Britain's Mauritius warship had closed off the Strait of Hormuz to prevent the transit of oil by international tankers.
The government of Mossadeq was not a match for the Royal Navy. Therefore it sealed all oil wells in Iran and Iran's oil exports were halted totally. Following the 1983 coup and the overthrow of the government of Mossadeq, the Shah regime decided to establish an Iranian oil transport company in a bid to stave off the consequences of such incidents in the future. This company was established in 1955 was administered under Pahlavi Foundation.
Due to the facility of registration of tankers in Monrovia Port, National Tanker Company (NTC) was registered there. NTC ordered a number of vessels to the Netherlands and assigned the administration of vessels to a German company. The German company hired Chinese staff and installed them on the vessels. After some time, the Pahlavi Foundation found that NTC's dependence on other countries would not be a good gesture and it would be more appropriate to bring NTC under control of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). It transferred all its shares gradually to NIOC. In 1970, all shares of NTC had been transferred to NIOC. For several years, NIOC was running NTC as a subsidiary and not as an independent entity. After several years, NIOC realized that NTC needed to become independent.
In 1975, exactly 20 years after its establishment, NTC became independent and it was officially renamed National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC). New articles of association were drafted for it. Under this new statute, all shares of NITC belonged to NIOC, but it was run by an independent management. It signed two agreements for establishing two major oil transport companies; one was with England under the name of Iran-England joint shipping company, and one was with South Africa. But the second agreement was never activated.
The idea behind the establishment of NITC was to transport crude oil destined for export, stockpile oil, transport petroleum products between ports and islands, distribute imported petroleum products and provide services to oil platforms.
In 2000, given changes in economic conditions and the necessity of activation of the private sector in the economy, NITC was ceded to State Pension Fund, Social Security Investment Company and Oil Pension Fund to be run pursuant to the law governing private companies.
Wartime Crises
The former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein intensified its airstrikes on Iran in 1985. He started targeting oil facilities, refineries, jetties and tankers in an attempt to inflict maximum damage on the Islamic Republic.
Wartime conditions on one hand and the necessity of Iran's strong presence in high seas and the shortage of navigation fleet on the other, prompted NITC to add new vessels to its fleet.
In 1985, two new vessels were added to NITC fleet. One year later, 20 new vessels were purchased to bring the total number of NITC vessels to 32. The new vessels added more than 6 million tons to the capacity of NITC fleet.
Equipping oil tankers with missile diversion system, establishing new oil export terminals in Siri and Larak islands and conducting transshipment loading and offloading operations were among measures conducted during the Iraqi war to avert a halt to the export of crude oil and petroleum products. Loading and export of oil and petroleum products by NITC did not stop even a single day during eight years of imposed war despite all problems created for Iran's oil transportation system. It is one of biggest sources of honor for NITC. It might have even been unprecedented in the history of wars in the world.
During the imposed war, commercial vessels navigating in the Persian Gulf were effectively struck 381 times. Oil tankers were targeted 283 times while 58 strikes were carried out against NITC-owned vessels. In total, 189 vessels were damaged and 151 NITC staff, both Iranians and non-Iranians, lost their lives.
Post-War NITC Fleet
After the war ended in 1988, it was time that the NITC repaired its damaged tankers and vessels. Heavy costs were imposed on the company. The NITC had to spend $65.3 million on replacing seven second-hand vessels and $91.5 million for repairing vessels and tankers that had been damaged. Furthermore, the period during which a vessel was being repaired imposed a $94.5 million cost.
The war ended after Iran signed a UN-brokered resolution calling for ceasefire between Iran and Iraq. It was now time for post-war efforts. The top priority for the NITC was to develop itself, an objective which had been thwarted due to eight years of devastating war. The issue of NITC development was dependent more than anything else on the equipment of the NITC fleet. The number and the capacity of the vessels had to reach an internationally acceptable level in order to catch up with global technological developments. Then came the issue of expansion of administrative, technical and welfare facilities in parallel with equipment and installations and training of staff. When such activities are coupled with reasonable management the NITC would be placed on the path of desired progress and development.
NITC, Leading Tanker Company
With more than 60 years of offshore activity, the NITC is one of the biggest tanker companies in the world with 69 vessels and a capacity of around 15.5 million tons. The NITC vessels carry Iranian crude oil to markets across the globe. It also carries oil cargoes from Royal Dutch Shell, France's Total, Saudi Aramco as well as oil companies of Kuwait and Abu Dhabi.
Post-JCPOA Delisting
Like many other real and legal persons, the NITC was blacklisted in October 2012 after the European Union imposed tough sanctions against Iran. The NITC filed lawsuit with the EU General Court and won the case in September 2014 when the court ruled out the sanctions had to be lifted. Once more in 2015, the EU blacklisted the NITC under baseless pretexts. This time, Iran's nuclear deal with six world