TEHRAN – The loading and unloading of goods in the ports of Iran increased by 5.7 percent in the first nine months of the present Iranian calendar year (March 21-December 21), as compared to the same period of time in the past year, head of the country’s Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) announced.

Speaking in a press conference on the sidelines of the sixth Exhibition of Transportation, Logistics, and Related Industries, Ali-Akbar Safaei said during the mentioned period 156.714 million tons of goods have been loaded and unloaded at ports.

As reported by the PMO portal, in the said nine months, loading and unloading operations in the container sector reached 1.835 million TEUs, of which 995,000 TEUs was the share of loading and 845,000 TEUs was related to unloading.

The loading and unloading of container cargo increased by six percent and 8.4 percent, respectively, compared to the figure for the previous year’s same period, the official said.

According to Safaei, in the three quarters of the current year, 11.976 passengers were also transported from the country’s ports, registering a 42.7 percent rise, year on year.

Over $85m of projects underway in ports

Mentioning development and infrastructure projects underway in the country’s ports, Safaei said numerous projects with a total investment of 32.542 trillion rials (about $85.07 million) are currently underway at the country’s ports.

He also noted that projects worth 32.888 trillion rials (about $85.9 million) are going to begin in the near future.

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 facilitating the loading and unloading of goods, especially basic commodities, there.

It is worth mentioning that Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization 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 PMO, 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).

EF/MA