TEHRAN – Iranian Transport and Urban Development Ministry is planning to inaugurate 12 port development and maritime projects in six provinces across the country by the Iranian calendar month of Tir (begins on June 22).

As reported by the portal of the ministry, the mentioned projects are going to be inaugurated in Mazandaran, Hormozgan, Sistan-Baluchestan, Khuzestan, and Gilan provinces.

The said projects include installing loading cranes, CCTV, and electronic protection systems, construction of logistics services for export and transit, installing fire detection, alarm and extinguishing systems, and multi-purpose warehouses for storing goods as well as tanks for oil products.

Iranian Transport Ministry has been taking serious measures for supporting development projects in the country’s ports and in this regard the ministry has been cooperating with domestic companies for supplying the equipment and machinery needed in such projects.

Earlier this year, Transport Minister Mohammad Eslami had announced that the capacity of the country’s commercial ports is going to be increased to 500 million tons over the next five years, to make Iran one of the biggest trade hubs in the region.

Also in April, Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) Head Mohammad Rastad said that his organization plans to take all the necessary measures for supporting the companies active in various maritime sectors during the current Iranian calendar year (began on March 21).

“In line with the current year’s motto which is “Production: support and the elimination of obstacles”, PMO has put it on the agenda to provide necessary supports for producers in order to facilitate the process of import and export of goods in the country’s ports,” Rastad said.

Back in March, Rastad had said that despite the sanctions imposed on Iran’s shipping activities, loading and unloading of goods have been noticeably increasing at the Iranian ports.

Making the remarks addressing the journalists and reporters on the sidelines of the annual gathering of the PMO directors, the official said, “Many fruitful measures were taken in most of the ports, while some good development projects were also implemented this year”.

While the enemy is trying to halt Iran’s exports and imports through imposing sanctions, operations at Iranian ports are underway without interruption as the result of the PMO’s all-out efforts.

Not only the sanctions haven’t been able to stop development activities at the ports of Iran, but some new development projects have also been defined, Rastad said.

As the major gates of exports and imports, Iranian ports play a significant role in the country’s battle against the U.S. sanctions, and the ongoing operation at the ports indicates that they are playing their part perfectly.

EF/MA