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Caught Our Eye

Shipper hires K Street firm for Iran issues

Posted by Sean Myers on Feb. 25, 2016

A major shipping organization has hired a prominent advocacy group to lobby Congress concerning Iranian sanctions.

The American Bureau of Shipping, a marine classification society, has hired Baker Hostetler LLP to lobby Congress on issues surrounding the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations.

For decades, marine classification societies like the ABS have been integral in tightening sanctions in Iran. By withholding their safety classification on vessels, groups like the ABS make it more difficult for shipping companies to find workers who demand a boat to meet specific safety classifications before they work on it. The ABS stopped classifying vessels owned or operated by the Iranian government as early as 1979.

With the relaxation of Iranian sanctions as part of the country's nuclear deal, however, shipping to the Middle-Eastern country has jumpstarted. With the increased shipping, however, comes an increase in the lobbying going on in Congress over how much can go to Iran.