TEHRAN - Loading and unloading of goods in the ports of Iran rose 15.2 percent during the first nine months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-December 21), as compared to the same period in the previous year.

As announced in a report by Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO), loading and unloading of goods in the country’s ports reached 109.09 million tons in the mentioned period, while the figure stood at 94.72 million tons in the past year’s same time span.

During the said seven months, unloading and loading operations in the container sector reached 17.19 million tons, for dry bulk the figure stood at 35.01 million tons, in liquid bulk the figure was 3.05 million tons, while for general cargo (general and miscellaneous goods) it was 15.25 million tons, and for the petroleum products loading and unloading volume amounted to 38.59 million tons, the PMO report said.

The report noted that the loading and unloading operations in the container sector rose by 11.5 percent in the mentioned period compared to the last year’s same time span, while in the dry bulk sector the figure grew by 16 percent, in the liquid bulk sector increased by 21 percent, in the general cargo sector the growth was 10.7 percent, and the petroleum sector also experienced a growth of 17.1 percent compared to the same period last year.

While Iran is combating the U.S. unilateral sanctions on its economy, the country’s ports as the major gates of exports and imports play some significant role in this battle. This role makes all-out support to ports and more development of them serious and vital.

Such necessity has led the government to define projects for more development of the ports and also take some measures to encourage investment making in ports, in addition, to facilitate loading and unloading of goods, especially basic commodities, there.

It is worth mentioning that PMO has defined a high number of projects to develop and improve the country’s ports, as the country aims to double the capacity of its ports in a course of five years.

According to the Ports and Maritime Organization, the capacity of the country's ports has increased from 180 million tons in the Iranian calendar year 1392 (ended in March 2014) to 250 million tons in the previous calendar year.

The total capacity of the country’s ports is expected to reach 280 million tons by the end of the current fiscal year (late March 2022).

MA/MA