New Iranian firm Karenah to launch ropax services

Karenah Lines, a ferry company newly set up by private investors in Iran, has taken delivery of its first ship, the 20,000-gt ropax ferry Sunny (built 1982).

The 680-lane-metre, 800-passenger ship arrived at the Iranian Gulf island of Kish last week. Local news sources  say Karenah will  operate initially between the mainland port of Bandar Abbas and the islands of Kish and Qeshm, but it hopes eventually to start services to neighbouring countries.

The Sunny spent most of its career operating in the Baltic for Scandlines and Stena Line as the Trelleborg. It was sold to Greek-backed interests trading under the name MH Marine Co in March last year and has spent the intervening months laid up near Piraeus.

TradeWinds understands that the ship was recently refitted at Neorion Syros Shipyards and is being managed by Piraeus-based Go Shipping & Management. The International Ships Register indicates no transfer of ownership or management has taken place since it departed for Iran, which would indicate that it is being leased by Karenah.

Karenah’s services are expected to be the first of several ropax routes that will be launched in the near future.

Sources indicate that the Pakistan government issued a permit to the Pakistan National Shipping Corp (PNSC) in late March giving it permission to operate a ropax service to Iran. PNSC reportedly plans to launch a ferry service from Karachi to Pasni in southwest Pakistan and Chahbhar in southeast Iran this year.

Also on the radar are plans for a ferry service on the Caspian Sea linking Azerbaijan's capital, Baku, with Amirabad, a large free-zone port being built in northern Iran.

Iran has limited ferry services despite its long coastline. Until Karenah's launch, the country’s only ferry operator was Valfajr Shipping, a subsidiary of Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines.

Valfajr operates a handful of fast catamarans between Iran, Kuwait, Oman and Iraq, as well as a small ropax ferry from Bandar Abbas to Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. It also runs several domestic ferry services.