TEHRAN – The operational capacity of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) fleet has increased by 153 percent in Chabahar Port due to the increase of investment in the port which has made it possible for ships with higher capacity to commute to this port, Mana reported.

According to the IRISL Office of Public Relations, due to the appropriate investment made in the infrastructures of Shahid Beheshti Port of Chabahar for the traffic of ships with high intakes, the IRISL started to establish regular shipping lines in this port as of September 2022, which caused a jump in the loading and unloading of goods at the port compared to last year.

According to official data, the IRISL fleet managed to load and unload 15,166 TEU of container goods in the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 22- August 22), which is a significant performance jump compared to previous years.

It is worth noting that the total loading and unloading of containers in this port in the Iranian year 1400 (ended on March 20, 2022) was about 1,478 TEU.

Considering the current trend, it is predicted that the volume of unloading and loading of container goods in Chabahar Port (Shahid Beheshti) will reach 40,000 TEU by the end of this year (late March 2024). The figure will be about 25 times more than that of the year 1400.

As Iran's only oceanic port on the Gulf of Oman, Chabahar Port holds great significance for the country both politically and economically. The country has taken serious measures to develop this port in order to improve the country’s maritime trade.

The port consists of Shahid Kalantari and Shahid Beheshti terminals, each of which has five berth facilities. The port is located in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan Province and is about 120 kilometers southwest of Pakistan’s Baluchistan Province, where the China-funded Gwadar port is situated.

In May 2016, India, Iran, and Afghanistan signed a trilateral agreement for the strategically-located Chabahar port to give New Delhi access to Kabul and Central Asia.

Later, based on a separate deal with Iran, India agreed to install and operate modern loading and unloading equipment including mobile harbor cranes in Shahid Beheshti Port in Chabahar.

Under the framework of the mentioned agreement, the Indian side has been operating in Shahid Beheshti port in the form of a build–operate–transfer (BOT) contract; this is the first time that such a contract has been implemented in one of the country's ports with 100 percent foreign investment.

The first consignment of Indian equipment for the development of port activities at Chabahar port worth $8.5 million arrived in the southeastern port in January 2021.

EF/MA