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

Rastad noted that 11.4 million tons of basic goods have also been cleared from the country’s ports since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21).

The official said 24 vessels loaded with 1.3 million tons of such commodities are currently waiting at the ports to unload their cargoes.

At present, the storage of basic goods is mainly at the Imam Khomeini Port with more than 3.2 million tons, Rastad said, adding that the total number of ships that are unloading in the country’s ports is 18, of which 10 are at Imam Khomeini Port.

Referring to the importance of Imam Khomeini port, Rastad said in the fifth month of the current Iranian calendar year (July 22-August 22) about 1.5 million tons of goods were unloaded at this port, with a daily average of 46,750 tons.

“Every day, on average, 52,799 tons of goods were also distributed from this port by truck and through the rail network,” he added.

Back in July, Head of Iran Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization Darioush Amani said that over 154 million tons of basic goods were transported through Iran’s roads in the first three months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-June 21) of which 6.5 million tons were distributed from the country’s ports.

“Some 62 percent of these basic goods were distributed from Imam Khomeini port and the rest from Bandar Abbas and Amirabad ports,” Amani told IRIB.

According to Amani, last year, a total of 502 million tons of goods were transported through the country's road network, which was unprecedented and grew by 5.6 percent compared to the preceding year.

EF/MA