TEHRAN – Some 52.5 million tons of non-oil commodities were exported from Iranian ports in the previous Iranian calendar year 1398 (ended on March 19), according to Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) Head Mohammad Rastad, IRIB reported.

Speaking in a meeting between the First Vice-President Es'haq Jahangiri and the Transport Ministry’s officials on Tuesday, Rastad noted that the country’s ports are working around the clock to meet the needs of the country.

“Last year, we allocated 21 trillion rials (about $500 million) from the organization's internal resources to development projects,” he said.

The deputy transport minister further noted that this year, three phases of Shahid Rajaei port (Iran’s largest container port in the southern province of Hormozgan) will be put into operation and 900 meters of wharf will also be inaugurated to increase the port’s container capacity.

According to the official, last year 11 development projects worth 55 trillion rials (about $1.3 billion) were funded by the private sector and went operational in the country’s ports.

In late March, Rastad announced that PMO is going to pay 36 trillion rials (about $857 million) for supplying marine fleet during the current Iranian calendar year (began on March 20).

The official said this fund will be paid to the marine industries of the country for supplying the required fleet in this year, which is named the year of “Surge in Production”.

EF/MA