TEHRAN - Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) deputy head for ports and economic affairs said transit of goods through southeastern Chabahar port has increased significantly in recent years due to offered incentives and the development of the port’s infrastructure.

“A 70-percent discount on tariffs and lowering transit costs through Chabahar Port have been so effective that Chabahar loading and unloading figure has reached to two million tons while it was merely 200,000 tons just a few years ago,” Farhad Montaser Kouhsari told IRNA on Sunday.

According to Kouhsari, many of the country’s neighbors are currently choosing Chabahar Port as the main route to ship their imported and exported goods, as well as raw material.

He emphasized that the goal of the port is now to attract regional markets including India and Afghanistan which are Iran's big trade partners, and also the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) which can use Chabahar Port to transit their goods with an average of 70 percent discount.

Montaser Kouhsari went on to say that the costs of commodity transit through Chabahar have been lowered and at the same time the infrastructure of the port has been improved so that it could load and unload all varieties of goods in a reasonable time.

Although Chabahar is not directly on the U.S. list of sanctions, it has been affected by them, he said adding that however, the PMO has identified potential customers and various incentives are offered so that they choose Chabahar as their main base.

Chabahar is Iran’s only ocean port, which is located in the southeastern Sistan-Balouchestan Province near the Indian Ocean. The port provides unique opportunities for investment of the private sectors of Iran and other regional countries.

In line with the development of the port, five big projects were recently started. The projects include petrochemical storage reservoirs, a goods warehouse, two oil products tanks, and a decontamination terminal of trucks. Implementation of eight other big projects in the port is in progress as well.

EF/MA