TEHRAN- As announced by a provincial official, 350 trillion rials (about $700 million) of investment will be attracted for the development of Shahid Rajaee port (Iran’s largest and most-equipped container port, located in southern Hormozgan province).

Making the remarks in a press conference on Wednesday, Hossein Abbas-Nejad, the director-general of Hormozgan province’s Ports and Maritime Department, said that the contract for attracting this amount of investment will be inked by the end of the current Iranian calendar month (December 21), adding that the ports’ container capacity will increase to eight million TEU through completion of the third phase of the port’s development plan.

Pointing out that Hormozgan has the longest sea border with 2,227 km, he said this province has 14 islands and about 72 large and small ports operate in Hormozgan.

Stating that the unloading and loading capacity of Hormozgan ports is 181 million tons, the official said the container capacity of Shahid Rajaee port is about 6 million TEU, and with the completion of the third phase of the development of this port, the container capacity should be increased to eight million TEU.

Abbas-Nejad further announced that the ports of Hormozgan experienced 36 percent growth in the loading and unloading of oil products, a 56 percent rise in the loading and unloading of non-oil goods, and 47 percent growth in passenger transportation in the past Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20).

He also announced that the loading and unloading of goods at the ports of the province rose four percent to stand at over 76 million tons in the first eight months of the current year (March 21-November 21), and an 11-percent growth was also achieved in the container sector.

Enjoying the most modern container terminals and port equipment, Shahid Rajaee accounts for 85 percent of the total loading and unloading at the Iranian ports.

Given its significant role in the country’s import and export of products as well as transit and transshipment via Iran, the development of Shahid Rajaee port has been among the most important development projects in the country.

MA

Photo: Hormozgan province’s Ports and Maritime Department Director-General Hossein Abbas-Nejad (C)