TEHRAN – Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) has awarded domestic companies the projects for supplying 20 trilling rials (over $476 million) worth of port equipment, Tasnim reported on Saturday, quoting an official with the organization as saying.

“Most of the contracts for supplying equipment for the country’s ports have been signed with Iranian companies, however still nearly 60 percent of the mentioned equipment cannot be made inside the country and we need to import them,” Farhad Montaser Kouhsari said.

The official noted that 40 percent of the ports’ required equipment and services, including engineering designs, molding and construction of structures, assembly, commissioning, training, and testing is supplied and delivered by capable Iranian companies.

Montaser further mentioned some of the problems which PMO is facing for importing equipment into the country during the sanctions, saying “High costs and the foreign manufacturers’ skepticism and uncertainty regarding trade with Iran in the shadow of the U.S. sanction are some of the main issues we are struggling with in this area.”

“We are also facing some problems with domestic manufacturers, for instance we cannot sign contracts based on foreign currencies with them since it is illegal to do so,” he added.

The official went on saying that considering the country’s huge potentials in this area and having great experts and workforce in the industry, the U.S. sanctions won’t be a permanent hurdle in the way of the country’s growth.

“We either find a way, or create one,” he said. 

EF/MA