TEHRAN – The loading and unloading of goods in the ports of Qeshm island, in the south of Iran, increased by 50 percent during the first four months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-July 21), as compared to the same period of time in the past year, a local official announced.

Ali Ashtari, the director-general of Qeshm Ports and Maritime Department, said that 3,851,563 tons of goods were loaded and unloaded in the ports of this island during the mentioned four-month period.

Based on the latest data released by the Iranian Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO), some 76,330,052 tons of goods were loaded and unloaded at the country’s ports in the first four months of the current Iranian calendar year.

As reported, during the mentioned four months more than 8.949 million tons of oil products and over 17.484 million tons of non-oil goods were unloaded at the Iranian ports, while the loading of oil products in ports was reported to be 25.4 million tons, and the loading of non-oil goods was 24.494 million tons.

Totally, more than 26.434 million tons of oil- and non-oil goods were unloaded at the Iranian ports in the said four months, and over 49.896 million tons of oil- and non-oil products were loaded.

During the said period, loading and unloading operations in the container sector reached 924,886 TEUs, which was four percent more than the 886,378 TEUs in the first four months of the past 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 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 five years.

Ports and Maritime Organization has put it on the agenda to attract 300 trillion rials (about $600 million) of investment from the private sector in the country's ports by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (late March 2025).

As reported by the PMO portal, the mentioned investment is going to be used to develop the infrastructure and operational capacity of the country’s ports.

Last month, PMO Head Ali-Akbar Safaei said over the past few years the organization has managed to attract nearly $1.7 billion of foreign and domestic investment in the country’s ports and maritime sector.

Speaking in a press conference on July 10, Safaei said some 620 trillion rials (about $1.24 billion) of domestic investment and $470 million of foreign investment have been attracted in the mentioned sectors.

“The attraction of this amount of private sector investment is significant compared to the total budget of the government in the sea and port sectors,” he said.

According to the official, regarding the foreign investment, PMO has signed contracts with five countries including India which has so far invested $120 million in the port sector and $250 million in the rail, roads and infrastructure sector.

Referring to the growth of maritime trade in the country, Safaei continued: “Maritime trade increased from 215 million tons in [the Iranian calendar year] 1401 (2022-2023) to 237 million tons last year (ended on March 19, 2024).”

“In the first quarter of the current year, 60 million tons of maritime trade was recorded, which shows a 10 percent growth compared to the same period last year, and even a 70 percent growth was recorded in some ports of the Caspian Sea,” he added.

MA