TEHRAN – As announced by a provincial official, 23 million tons of commodities have been loaded and unloaded in Imam Khomeini port, in the southwestern Khuzestan province, during the first half of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-September 22).

Behrouz Aqaei, the director-general of Khuzestan’s Ports and Maritime Department, said that the market-oriented approach, paying special attention to the issue of customer orientation and trying to make maximum use of the available marine and port capacities has led to a seven-percent growth in ship traffic in this port compared to the same period last year.

As previously reported, 45.976 million tons of commodities were loaded and unloaded in Imam Khomeini during the previous Iranian calendar year 1400 (ended on March 20), rising 17 percent as compared to the preceding year.

The annual loading and unloading of non-oil goods in Imam Khomeini port increased by 11 percent to stand at 29 million tons.

Meanwhile, 16.665 million tons of oil products were loaded and unloaded in the port during the previous year, with a four million tons growth from the preceding year.

According to a recent report released by the Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO), the loading and unloading of goods in the ports of the country has risen 4.8 percent during the first half of the present year, as compared to the first half of the past year.

Based on the mentioned report, 109.733 million tons of goods were loaded and unloaded in the ports of Iran during the first half of this year, while the figure was 104.698 million tons in the first half of the previous year.

As reported, loading and unloading of non-oil products stood at 54.777 million tons in the six-month of this year, up 0.8 percent from 54.366 million tons in the same time span of the previous year.

In terms of oil products, this year’s figure was 54.955 million tons, rising 9.2 percent from 50.331 million tons in the past year.

For the container sector, a growth of 8.2 percent was achieved, as 1.273 million TEUs were loaded and unloaded in the first half of this year, while the figure was 1.176 million TEUs in the first half 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.

MA/MA