TEHRAN – The director of Khuzestan Province’s Ports and Maritime Department has said that 34 percent of the country’s total transit is carried out through Imam Khomeini Port in this province, IRNA reported.

More than one million tons of goods were transited from the special economic zone of Imam Khomeini port in the first three months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-June 20), indicating that the share of this port in the transit of the country is 34 percent, Abutaleb Gerailou said.

As the largest entry gate of basic goods to the country, Special Economic Zone of Imam Khomeini Port, has unloaded more than 3.8 million tons of basic goods in the first three months of this year, the official said.

Imam Khomeini Port is a seaport at the northwestern end of the Persian Gulf near Ahvaz, the center of Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan province.

Opened in 1960 with two berths, the port is Iran’s second-largest operating port after Shahid Rajaee Port in southern Hormozgan province.

Considering its importance in Iran’s trade, the development of Imam Khomeini Port has always been a priority for the Iranian government.

Earlier this year, Iran launched a new loading platform at Imam Khomeini port to further enhance the port’s commodity transmission.

The port presently features five docks which are able to provide daily services of loading and unloading, he underlined.

In late December last year, Iranian private companies signed investment deals and memorandums valued at 90 trillion rials (about $180 million) to implement development projects at Imam Khomeini Port.

The mentioned contracts were signed in a ceremony attended by Transport and Urban Development Minister Mehrdad Bazrpash on the occasion of Transportation Week.

According to Gerailou, four of the mentioned deals worth 21.5 trillion rials (about $43 million) were concluded between the Ports and Maritime Department of Khuzestan Province and private sector investors to increase the capacity of loading and unloading of goods at the port.

The construction of storage tanks for petroleum products with a capacity of 40,000 cubic meters, the construction of a light hydrocarbon production refinery, a gamma irradiation system, and Arvand petrochemical saltwater transmission lines are among the projects that the private sector is going to invest in.

Gerailou stated that the completion of the commodity trading chain, the creation of value-added services, the development of the export of oil products, and the expansion of production activities in the Special Economic Zone of Imam Khomeini Port are among the goals of concluding the mentioned investment contracts.

The other five investment contracts worth about $140 million were signed to develop investment opportunities and increase the capacity of unloading and loading goods in the Imam Khomeini Port Special Economic Zone.

The official further noted that the PMO is following new policies to create specialized terminals for the loading and unloading of goods, and in this regard, the completion of four mechanized terminals for grains, container cargoes, and minerals at the special economic zone of Imam Khomeini Port have been prioritized.

EF/MA