TEHRAN - Managing Director of Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) Ali-Akbar Safaei has said the transit capacity of the country’s shipping fleet is planned to increase up to 50 million tons in the future, the PMO portal reported on Sunday.

“Our medium-term target is to transit 15 to 20 million tons of goods annually and the long-term plan is to reach more than 50 million tons of annual transit, for which we need to develop our railway infrastructure,” Safaei said.

According to the official, the capacity of the country’s ports has increased by 251 million tons since the victory of the Islamic Revolution 44 years ago.

“The total capacity of the country's ports in 1357 (1978) was 19 million tons, and today the figure has reached more than 270 million tons,” the PMO head said.

He stated that the container capacity of the country’s shipping fleet which was 75,000 TEUs in 1978 has currently reached 8.5 million TEUs.

The official further underlined PMO’s plans for the expansion of ties with neighboring countries in the maritime and port sector.

According to Safaei, more than 183 million tons of goods were loaded and unloaded at the country’s ports in the first 10 months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2022-January 20, 2023), which has increased compared to last year.

“In the container sector, 2.15 million TEUs was transported, which indicates a growth of eight percent compared to the same period last year,” he said.

EF/MA