Coll 28/67 ‘Persia. Annual Reports, 1932–’ [‎205v] (410/644)

20
transporting cargo from ship to shore at Khorramshahr. The British s upping
agents, Gray, Mackenzie and Co. (one of the firms into which the Mesopo amia-
Iran Corporation was dissolved during the year), Strick and Co. ana ncJ *}
and Eastern (Limited), were thus deprived of a business which had piove
remunerative in the past. His Majesty’s Minister caused the shipping agen s fe.
to be informed that he was prepared to take the matter up with the Iranian
Government if they so desired. But the agents decided that it was useless .o
contest the grant of the monopoly to the Iranian company, and concentrated on
making the new arrangements work without detriment to their pi me ipals.
Difficulties at once arose over the question of responsibility for cargo from ship s
side to the Customs, a point which had been completely overlooked by the naval
authorities, who were entirely ignorant of the technicalities of the shipping
industry. The Customs at first refused to recognise receipts given by the
monopoly company, and continued to hold the shipping companies responsible for
the delivery of cargo to the Customs, although the shipping companies and their
agents had no longer any control of the cargo since it left the ship s side. The
monopoly company also at first denied any responsibility for cargo in its lighters.
Eventually, after a great deal of correspondence, an agreement was reached
between the Customs and the monopoly company, by which the Customs accepted
the receipts given by the company at the ship’s side as a valid discharge of the
ship’s responsibility, while the company accepted responsibility for cargo in its
charge. This arrangement proved satisfactory to the shipping agents, and by
the end of May His Majesty’s vice-consul at Khorramshahr could report that,
contrary to all expectation, the monopoly company was proving a success, and
that, thanks to the co-operation of the Customs, the delays in landing cargo had
been greatly reduced. This progress was maintained throughout the summer,
and by the end of September the position of the Customs at Khorramshahr had
improved appreciably. The success of the monopoly company was attributed
mainly to the fact that it had the blessing of the naval, port and Customs
authorities, and was therefore free of the innumerable petty difficulties created
for the foreign shipping agents.
72. Up till the end of the year the Sherkat-i-Kashtirani, Karun, had not
obtained any monopoly of the transport of goods on the Karun from Khorramshahr
to Ahwaz, though its managing director was very anxious to exclude from this
trade the Iran Transport Company, a British company which has carried on
river transport on the Karun for upwards of fifty years. Threats to the right
of this company to operate its service on the Karun, which depends on a Persian
declaration of 1888, opening the Karun to vessels of all nations, had already
appeared in 1936, but by the end of 1937 they had still not materialised, and
Gray, Mackenzie and Co., as agents for the Iran Transport Company, were still
carrying a good deal of cargo on the Karun, mainly for the Anglo-Iranian Oil
Company. They were, however, due, like the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, to
comply by the end of the year with a regulation of the naval authorities, requiring
that the overall width of a tug with its barge, towed alongside, should not exceed
14 metres. Previously, river steamers had towed two barges alongside with
an overall width of as much as 26 metres. The new regulation seemed likely
to increase the cost of river transport on the Karun appreciably.
73. Rumours were current throughout the year that the Iranian Government
intended to take active steps to divert trade from Khorramshahr and the Karun
to Bandar Shahpur and the railway, and that to this end the Customs at Ahwaz
would be closed, and shipping of cargo under through bills of lading to Ahwaz
stopped. It is probable that the ultimate aim of the Iranian Government is to
concentrate all international trade at Bandar Shahpur. But the Government
are clearly aware that Bandar Shahpur is still hopelessly inadequate to cope
with all Iran’s sea-borne trade, and there were no indications during the year
that it was intended to divert trade from the Karun in the near future. ' On
the contrary, it was reported at the end of the year that contracts had been given
for the construction of new wharves at Khorramshahr and of a new customs house
at Ahwaz with a wharf on the Karun. Conditions at Bandar Shahpur remained
extremely bad throughout the year. Ships using the port suffered great delay,
and the Strick and Hansa lines decided at one time on a partial boycott of the
port. The Hansa line appeared to regret their decision to concentrate on this
port, and it was reported that there was much friction between them and the