TEHRAN – Over 440,000 tons of basic commodities have been imported to Iran via Shahid Rajaee port, the country’s largest and best-equipped container port, since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21), according to a provincial official.

Masoud Doshvargar, the director-general of Cereals and Commercial Services Department of southern Hormozgan Province, where the port is located, said that 13 vessels imported the mentioned commodities during the said time span.

He put the amount of imported rise, raw sugar, and oil at more than 440,000 tons since the year start and said that over the past few months, 115,298 tons of rice, 125,288 tons of oil and 129,440 tons of raw sugar have been unloaded and stored at the port wharf.

As announced by the head of Iran Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization, over 154 million tons (mt) of goods were transported through Iran’s roads in the first three months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-June 21) of which 6.5 million tons of basic goods were distributed from the country’s ports.

“Some 62 percent of these basic goods were distributed from Imam Khomeini port and the rest from Bandar Abbas and Amirabad ports.,” Darioush Amani told IRIB.

According to Amani, last year, a total of 502 million tons of goods were transported through the country's road network, which was unprecedented and grew by 5.6 percent compared to the preceding year.

Over 25 million tons of the transported goods in the previous calendar year were basic goods, the official explained.

Amani stated that currently, 2,000 trucks transport 50,000 tons of goods per day from Imam Khomeini Port, adding that the number of trucks should be increased to 2,400 vehicles a day in order to offset imports and increase the clearance process of the goods in the said port.

The official added that over 3,600 vehicles and machines are currently operating to unload goods at the country’s ports.

Back in May, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani ordered the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) to take the necessary measures to accelerate the clearance of basic goods deposited at the country’s customs.

MA/MA