‘Professional and cost-effective management of our operations is our main challenge,’ says chairman and managing director of Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) Ahad Mohammadi. Potential growth in Iranian exports of non-oil cargoes offers opportunities for IRISL, which today is Iran’s largest dry- cargo shipping company.
Ahad Mohammadi, who is also Advisor to Irans Minister of Commerce, points to the fact that low oil prices in the late 1990s forced Iran to focus on lines of business outside the oil and gas sector. The recovery in oil prices, says Mohammadi, has stabilised the economy, and put the country in a better position to make and sell products other than crude oil.This represents potential growth for IRISL. Today the total annual import of dry commodities to Iran is 16 million tons, while exports are about 5 million tons. The planned increase in export of petrochemicals from the present 3.5 million tons to 10 million tons in 2002 represents a transport need that we want to meet, says Mohammadi, and cites a joint venture between IRISL and Iranian National Petrochemical Company.
Cultural aspects
IRISL is a state-owned company, but is not subsidised by the government. We have to invest from our own resources and compete on international terms, says Mohammadi. So we focus on increasing the efficiency of the company. Professional management of the company is a prerequisite for success, since we are facing worldwide competition. I feel we have a lot of professional individuals, but teamwork is a true challenge in the Iranian culture.
Take the International Safety Management Code (ISM), for example. Its approach has not been of much help to us. We have to address problems from the cultural aspects also. In European companies, feedback on required improvements is accepted and often implemented without strong reactions. But in our Iranian culture, we have to tackle these issues in a different manner and take other considerations into account, in order not to demotivate the staff and also to boost initiatives to work harder.
Decision support
The Classification Society is seen as a partner in IRISLs efforts to maintain the quality of the fleet. Mohammadi says the company has good relations with both major Societies in Iran, DNV and LR. Class must not be an outsider or against us, they should not act as the police. We expect class to correct us when quality or environmental matters are on the agenda. Input for improvements in the maintenance of our ships, and case studies related to our fleet, are valuable contributions from class. What we need is relevant decision support.