The South Korean Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co. is to establish a shipbuilding company in a joint venture with Iranian state-run companies, Tehran Times daily reported on Tuesday.

Daewoo will found the company with three Iranian companies of the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran (IDRO), the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC), and the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line (IRISL), IDRO managing director Mansour Mo'azzami was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

The joint company will be established by the end of January, the report said but did not specify its location.

The South Korean shipbuilder signed the agreement to help develop Iran's shipbuilding industry in late December.

Since 1983, Daewoo has delivered 38 ships valued at 1.65 billion U.S. dollars to Iranian companies, the daily reported.

In December, IRISL also signed a deal with South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) to buy 10 container ships from the Korean shipbuilding company.

The contract is valued at 650 million U.S. dollars and will be financed by South Korean banks. The ships will be delivered to Iran in 2018.

The contract with HHI was part of the IRISL's plan to renovate its fleet through a total investment of 2.5 billion dollars.

The Iranian company operates about 115 oceangoing vessels, but many of the ships are aged and cannot be insured.

source: Xinhua