apparently because of the tangle caused by US banking restrictions and European banks now giving up on doing business with Iran.
About 400,000 tons of grain have been held up on at least 10 ships outside Iranian ports for as long as three weeks, trade sources told Reuters Monday. There was speculation that the new EU sanctions were to blame, but they only took effect January 23 and thus could not explain ships stranded back to early January
One European grain trader said, “The myriad of sanctions have worked to the point where the Iranian banking system is virtually defunct, thereby not allowing international trade houses to receive workable letters of credit. Their ships are stopped while people figure out how to get payment done, it’s a mess.”
Industry sources said a number of international trade houses are unable to deliver their grain at the moment.
“The exporters cannot unload without payment as they would face multi-million dollar losses if they do not get their money,” another grain trader said.
“People are already facing losses on deals because of the delays in unloading. The importers cannot pay cash as the shipments are too big. It is a total nightmare.”
The trade source said up to 400,000 tons of grain, especially milling wheat from Russia and corn and feed wheat from Ukraine, were stuck outside ports.
“Some vessels have been waiting up to three weeks,” the source said Monday.
At Bandar Imam Khomeini, one of the country’s largest grain terminals, at least nine dry bulk vessels were anchored off the port with a further vessel on its way to the area, AIS ship tracking showed Monday.
“There are now 11 to 12 ships waiting to unload. About 90 percent of the cargo is grains, mostly from Russia and Ukraine or elsewhere in the Black Sea region,” another grain trader said.
“It is just total chaos, with the upheaval in the financial system meaning no one can get letters of credit for payment,” the trader said.
“EU banks have made a widespread pull out of providing trade finance for Iran and the shipments are being caught as they are too large to handle with direct payment.”