Iraq signs with company to create new 66-freighter fleet

THE Iraq government has signed a deal with an international company to jointly operate 66 cargo ships, reports The Associated Press.

Iraq intends to rebuild its maritime capability, including the training of seafarers and to augment the two cargo ships and four tankers it not possesses.

Iraq's fleet of tankers and cargo vessels was largely destroyed by shelling in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War with more going in the First Gulf War in 1991.

The five-year contract will link Iraq's state-run Maritime Transportation Co with Global Refinery, a unit of a company based in the British Virgin Islands.
(Source:www.schednet.com)