TEHRAN - Director General of Planning, Development, and Resource Management at Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) said a 103 percent growth has been recorded in maritime and port services as the country is taking new measures to boost maritime-oriented economy.

According to Mohammad-Hossein Allameh, PMO is directly involved in the development of the maritime economy and in this regard, the container capacity of the country’s ports has increased to 7.8 million TEU, IRNA reported.

“With the cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, communication with other countries is also on the agenda and we also plan to use the capacity of knowledge-based companies in meeting the needs of the country in the maritime sector,” the official said.

Back in November 2023, PMO Head Ali-Akbar Safaei said the organization was planning to attract 1.0 quadrillion rials (about $1.968 billion) of investment in the country’s ports to develop the maritime economy.

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 the 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