TEHRAN – As announced by a provincial official, 1.708 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of goods were loaded and unloaded in Shahid Rajaee port, Iran’s largest and most-equipped container port, during the previous Iranian calendar year 1400 (ended on March 20).

Alireza Mohammadi Karajiran, the director-general of Ports and Maritime Department of southern Hormozgan province where the port lies, said that increasing the nominal capacity of the port by five million tons, and its container capacity by 500,000 TEUs, as well as boosting the investment attraction by 10 trillion rials (about $37 million) in this port are among the main objectives defined for Shahid Rajaee port in the current year.

As the official has also announced, 58,992 vessels entered the ports of Hormozgan province in the past year, loading and unloading 1.839 million TEUs of commodities.

In the past year, more than 95 million tons of commodities were loaded and unloaded in the ports of province, indicating 16.7 percent growth year on year, he added.

Of the mentioned 95 million tons, 56 million tons were non-oil goods, and 39 million tons were oil products, the official announced.

Based on the data released by Transport and Urban Development Ministry, loading and unloading of goods in the ports of Iran rose 17 percent during the past year.

The ministry’s data show that loading and unloading of goods in the country’s ports reached 152.91 million tons in the previous Iranian calendar year, while the figure stood at 130.69 million tons in the preceding year.

During the said year, loading and unloading operations in the container sector reached 2.1 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) with a weight of 24.57 million tons, which was 13.5 percent more than the 1.85 million TEUs in the Iranian calendar year 1399, the report said.

The loading and unloading of goods during the previous year also grew by 12.8 percent in the dry bulk sector, while in the liquid bulk sector the figure increased by 12.6 percent, in the general cargo sector rose by 13.1 percent, and in the petroleum sector grew by 22.5 percent.

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 a 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 Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization (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 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 1399 (ended in March 2021).

Enjoying the most modern container terminals and port equipment, Shahid Rajaee accounts for 85 percent of the total loading and unloading at the Iranian ports.

Given its significant role in the country’s import and export of products as well as transit and transshipment via Iran, the development of Shahid Rajaee Port has been among the most important development projects in the country.

MA/MA