Introducing DBC and its history in the last 25 years:

Darya-Bandar Consulting Engineers (DBC) is one of the most reputable and prominent private consultancy establishments in Iran, technically & scientifically approved and awarded the highest professional grade by the Management & Planning Organization (MPO), as the local governmental regulating body for practicing the consultancy profession. Moreover, for international projects in the past, DBC has been approved by UNIDO of the United Nations.

DBC was founded in 1980 to incorporate the resources & experiences of the pioneering multi-national Iran-NEDECO company as its predecessor, by Mr. Morteza Banijamali the founding Managing Director of both companies, because new corporate ownership legislature at the time of the Islamic revolution of Iran necessitated the creation of a fully Iranian owned company.

In fact, taking into consideration all major projects successfully undertaken by DBC and its predecessor Iran-NEDECO over the last four decades, almost everywhere along the approximately 2,700 kilometers coastlines of the Caspian Sea, Persian Gulf and Oman Sea, DBC is seen to be the most experienced marine consultancy establishment inside Iran.

Notably, Mr. Banijamali as the first Iranian member (Sole Member for the period of 1988 to 2000) of the PIANC for the last 25 years and a former Iranian Director of the South Eastern Drilling Company (SEDCO), has been the port-planner of most of Iran's major commercial, fishing, petrochemical and some other special types of ports. In addition, he had an active role in the Masterplan studies for the Iranian Commercial and Fishing ports, the former having been done by F.R. Harris and its Iranian partner. Later on, as the Managing Director of Iran-NEDECO, the Iranian partners of the Dutch consultancy group, he functioned for 14 years as the Iranian director for the new Bandar-Abbas port expansion project, the biggest port project ever performed in Iran.

Of the past international partners of DBC, in addition to the names mentioned above, INTECSA of Spain, ISAMCO & SEPASS of Switzerland and SECMAFER of France can be mentioned.

Under Mr. Banijamali's leadership as the pioneer of port and coastal engineering in Iran, DBC, originally active mainly in providing marine engineering services, as the English translation of the company name into Sea-Port indicates, has not only evolved to include other divisions in branches such as River Engineering, Water Resources, Roads, Rail-Roads & Bridges, but also many successful joint-ventures with prominent international engineering consultancy companies have been accomplished in the last quarter of century. Indeed, as strict adherence to professional ethics such as advocated by FIDIC has formed the moral bedrock of our corporation, DBC with its full respect for all international values and its multi-lingual employees has been the partner of choice for many overseas companies involved in Iran. It also deserves mention that DBC is an active member of the Iranian Society of Consulting Engineers which has a national membership arrangement with FIDIC.

Moreover, DBC's Board of Directors includes individuals with ample past history of positions of leadership and responsibility in the most important Iranian Marine Institutions, like a former Managing Director of the Iranian Ports and Shipping Organization (PSO), as well as those with valuable experience in major European and North-American consultancy organizations. Additionally, various DBC divisions currently include around 90 full-time specialized engineering staff and around 20 Iranian and European university professors and experts who cooperate with various DBC divisions on a part-time basis.

Over the years, DBC has earned prizes from credible professional organizations as well as its Clients. An example is provided by the first-place company ranking and prize awarded to DBC by the first National Civil Engineering Conference in Iran in 1996. A complete list can be available separately if interested.

It is DBC's core policy to keep up-to-date and participate in the international conferences such as PIANC, ICCE, ICE, FIDIC, as well as all pertinent Iranian conferences to present articles regarding its achievements or report on some in-house research results made possible with good existing relations with Iranian universities and their scientific boards some of whom cooperate with DBC on a part-time basis. For example, the first ever scientific paper on Navigation Simulation for an Iranian port is another example of this deep resolve.

In fact, there are quite many issues and instances where DBC has been the first inside Iran to achieve something entirely unprecedented locally, to name the following as some examples:

• Design and Construction Supervision of the first ever Dynamically-stable breakwater in Iran.

• Design and Construction Supervision of the first ever and only Detached breakwater in Iran.

• Design and Construction Supervision of the deepest breakwater inside Iran which is one of the deepest in the world.

• Design and Construction Supervision of the first Caisson-type quay-wall in Iran.

• Design and Construction Supervision of an enhanced type of Soldier-Pile berthing structure.

• Project Management for the first ever combined Land-based plus Sea-borne breakwater construction project inside Iran on a scale reaching daily rock placement rates of up to 15,000 (cu m).

• Design of the first ever and only rail-ferry pier in Iran.

• The most experienced design and specialized studies team.

• The first company to surpass the figure of 100 for the total number of internal and international Tender Documents Prepared, Tenders Assessed, and Contracts Supervised relating to various Ports and Coastal Engineering disciplines in Iran.

• The first company applying judiciously un-par with international standards the State-of-the-Art specialized Hydrodynamics, Sediment Transport and Morphology modeling software tools, as well having the right in-house experts who understand the numerical engines and physical principles encapsulated by these software and can provide the right engineering judgment.

Aside from its headquarters in Tehran, DBC operates ten regional branches in various northern and southern coastal locations of Iran. In addition, DBC has a Canadian subsidiary, named IDA Engineering and Development, incorporated under Canadian regulations in Toronto which manages the export of engineering services from DBC and Iran-NEDECO for the North-American market. Regional cooperation with Middle-Eastern and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries can be overseen by DBC headquarters in Tehran.