TEHRAN – As announced by a provincial official, 21.4 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).

Aboutaleb Geraylou, the head of Khuzestan’s Ports and Maritime Department, said that of the mentioned figure, 11.766 million tons were the non-oil goods, and 9.633 million tons were the oil products.

Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) has announced that the loading and unloading of goods in the ports of Iran increased by three percent in the first six months of the present year.

The PMO reported that 111,806,313 tons of commodities were loaded and unloaded in the ports during the first half of this year.

Of the mentioned figure, 74,415,327 tons were related to loading, and 37,392,654 tons were related to unloading.

The loading of goods in the mentioned period also increased by nine percent as compared to the figure for the previous year’s same six months.

During the said period, loading and unloading operations in the container sector reached 1,432,672 TEUs, which was five percent more than the 1,284,604 TEUs in the first six 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 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).

MA