Baghdad – WAA – Amina Al-Salami
The Ministry of Transport announced, today, Saturday, a plan to support the marine fleet with 15 new ships, while indicating the number of ships in the Iraqi marine fleet and the mechanism for conducting periodic maintenance.
The Director of Media at the Ministry of Transport, Maitham Al-Safi, told the (INA): “The Iraqi naval fleet owns 6 ships, including 4 commercial ships, one fuel tanker, and the last ship is a fresh water tanker.”
Al-Safi added that “the upcoming plans are to expand the Iraqi naval fleet on the investment budget, to build 8 ships,” adding: “It was hoped that it would be on the 2024 budget, but it was transferred to the 2025 budget.”
He pointed out that “there is another plan on the Japanese loan to build 5 ships, and it is still under negotiations, in addition to the Board of Directors’ decision to purchase two ships that are three years younger than the current year’s model,” stressing that “the Ministry is striving to expand the fleet and return it to what it was in the past.”
He explained that “the General Company for Maritime Transport continues to provide services through shipping agencies, and also through its ships that carry out cargo transport operations in the Middle East and also in Europe.”
For his part, the General Manager of the General Maritime Transport Company, Ahmed Jassim Naeem, said: “The two ships, Al Muthanna and Al Hadba, have completed the comprehensive dry-docking operations in Dubai’s shipyards, according to the requirements of the French classification agency Bureau Veritas and the British classification agency Lloyd’s.”
Naeem added, “The Basra ship has completed its journey from Bulgaria to India, and is currently heading to Dubai Shipyards for the purpose of carrying out comprehensive maintenance and dry-docking operations.”
He explained that “the comprehensive drydocking allows the ship to operate for 5 years, after which maintenance and drydocking operations are carried out.”
He pointed out that “the two tankers, Al-Asma’i and Al-Qurna, are currently in Dubai’s shipyards, undergoing intermediate drydocking, and work is being completed on them,” expecting “they will go to sea within the next week.”