ECO Shipping Company
The agreement on the establishment of the ECO Shipping Company was signed on 15 March 1995. The Company was officially inaugurated on 5th December 1995. After setting up the head office in Tehran, ECO shipping lines with effect from 15 March 1996, utilizing a multi purpose dry cargo vessel named “ECO EKRAM” on long time charter basis, initiated its sea transportation activities. On December 1996 the captioned vessel along with M.V. ECO ELHAM was purchased, under soft conditions, rendered by M/S Islamic Republic of Iran shipping lines.
During the Year 2000, 14 maritime trips performed and 122,396 tons of shipment transported in Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean, China & East and West Africa.
During the Year 2000, 24 cases of representative services have been provided for tanker ships carrying crude in Neka Port. Totally 355,482 tons of Turkmen crude was discharged with Iranian National Oil Company.
Representational Activities of Ships & Cargo
In 2000, one ship “Iran Qyamat” was hired from Islamic Republic of Iran and 10, 858 tons of shipments have been transported.
Miscellaneous Activities
Other activities like inspection services, negotiations and relevant document handling services as well as calculation of transportation fees, for other companies were carried out.
The 9th and 10th REGIONAL PLANNING COUNCIL Meetings appealed to the signatory countries namely, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and Turkmenistan to fulfill their obligations including payment of their shares to the capital of the Company to make it a financially viable concern. On June 30, 2000, the ECO Shipping Company received the primary contribution from the Government of Pakistan i.e. US$ 350,000 towards the Project.
2. To resolve the outstanding problems of ECO Shipping Company the 3rd ECO Ministerial Meeting on Transport and Communications (Islamabad, 27-28 April, 2000) decided that within one month from the deadline (June 30, 2000) a committee consisting of countries, which had paid their initial equity shares, would be set up. The 10th COM meeting held in Tehran on 8 June 2000 approved the said decision.
4. The Extraordinary General Assembly Meeting of the ECO Shipping Company, held in Tehran on 13 December 2000, reduced the registered capital of the company from US$ 6 million to US$1.8 million and hence the Company’s shares will be issued for this amount. Apart from that, it is being urged that member countries that have not paid their share to pay according to revised registered capital by the 11th Regional Planning Council.