TEHRAN – Head of Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) Mohammad Rastad says 4.1 million tons of basic goods are already stored at the country’s ports, Tasnim reported on Sunday.

Speaking in a press conference on loading and unloading of basic goods amid the coronavirus outbreak, Rastad noted that 25 vessels are currently unloading their cargoes at the country’s commercial ports and 23 vessels are also waiting to unload.

According to the official, over 14.3 million tons of basic goods have been loaded and unloaded in the country’s ports, since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20), 35 percent less than the figure for the last year’s same period.

Of the mentioned 14.3 million tons of goods, 9.7 million tons were non-oil commodities from which the share of bulk goods was 4.6 million tons, down 25.6 percent from the same period last year.

As for container cargoes, 172,000 TEUs entered the country's ports, indicating a decrease of about 35 percent compared to the same period last year, he said.

Opining to the fact that the coronavirus outbreak has reduced the loading and unloading of goods in the country’s ports, Rastad said: “The international trade has been [negatively] affected by the coronavirus outbreak and we have been witnessing a significant drop in maritime transportation worldwide. In 2019, about 11 billion tons of goods were transported by sea, which is expected to decrease by 600 million tons this year,” the official said.

“[However] since the outbreak of coronavirus and its consequences, loading, and unloading of goods in the county’s commercial ports have not been stopped, not even for a day,” he stressed.

Noting that shipbuilding orders in the first four months of 2020 have decreased by 71 percent compared to the same period last year, the official said the daily rentals of commercial vessels have also fallen due to reduced demand so that for some vessels the rents have fallen to $5,000.

EF/MA