TEHRAN- Loading and unloading of goods rose 20 percent at Imam Khomeini port, in the southwestern Khuzestan province, during the first ten months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2021-January 20, 2022), as compared to the same period of time in the past year, a provincial official announced.

Adel Deris, the director-general of Khuzestan province’s Ports and Maritime Department, said 39.33 million tons of oil products and non-oil commodities were loaded and unloaded at the port in the ten-month period.

The official further announced that 19.239 million tons of products were unloaded at Imam Khomeini port in the first ten months of this year, which was 19 percent more than the figure for the same period of time in the past year.

He added that 20.091 million tons of commodities were loaded at the port in the mentioned ten-month period, indicating 21 percent growth year on year.

As previously announced in a report by Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO), Loading and unloading of goods in the ports of Iran rose 20 percent during the first ten months of the current Iranian calendar year, as compared to the same period in the previous year.

Loading and unloading of goods in the country’s ports reached 127.631 million tons in the mentioned period, while the figure stood at 106.453 million tons in the past year’s same time span.

During the said ten months, unloading and loading operations in the container sector reached 1.78 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), 18 percent more than 1.503 million TEUs in the first ten months of the previous year, the report said.

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 some 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 facilitate loading and unloading of goods, especially basic commodities, there.

It is worth mentioning that PMO 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 a course of five years.

According to the Ports and Maritime Organization, 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 the previous calendar year (ended in March 2021).

The total capacity of the country’s ports is expected to reach 280 million tons by the end of the current fiscal year.

MA/MA