Iran Registers 54% Growth in Private Port Investments
EghtesadOnline: The private sector has signed investment contracts worth 54,982 billion rials ($407 million) with Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran for the development of Iranian ports during the 10 months to Jan. 20, according to a PMO official.
Hossein Sadeqinejad has also been quoted as saying by the news outlet of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development that the investment volume shows a 54% growth on a year-on-year basis, according to Financial Tribune.
“These investments will be allocated for constructing and operating a wharf, building a mechanized rail terminal for the transport of minerals and a mechanized granary, creating transportation routes for petroleum products, improving technical services, setting up factories in the ports of Chabahar, Shahid Rajaee and Imam Khomeini” he said.
The latest PMO data show 105 million tons of commodities were loaded and unloaded at Iran’s 21 commercial ports during the first nine months of the current Iranian year (March 21-Dec. 21) to register a 1.1% rise compared with the corresponding period of last year.
Non-oil goods accounted for 71.81 million tons of the total throughput, showing a 0.76% year-on-year growth.
The remaining 33.83 million tons pertained to oil products, indicating a 1.77% increase YOY.
Container loading and unloading declined by 41.61% to stand at 998,820 TEUs.
More than 53.56 million tons of commodities were exported from the ports under review and close to 23.28 million tons were imported during the eight-month period, showing an 11.35% and 10.29% growth respectively compared with the similar period of last year.
A total of 3.09 million tons of goods were transited through these ports during the same period to register a 43.26% YOY decline.
The 21 ports under study include Iran’s southern ports of Abadan, Imam Khomeini, Bushehr, Khorramshahr, Genaveh, Bandar Lengeh, Chavibdeh, Arvandkenar, Charak and Dayyer located on the shores of Persian Gulf, Shahid Rajaee, Shahid Bahonar, Qeshm and Tiab at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz, Jask and Chabahar on the coasts of the Sea of Oman and the northern ports of Fereydounkenar, Noshahr, Astara, Amirabad and Anzali along the shoreline of Caspian Sea.
Shahid Rajaee was the busiest port during the period under review, as more than 53.05 million tons of commodities were loaded and unloaded at this strategic port located in the southern Hormozgan Province, registering a 3.59% growth compared with the similar period of last year.
Situated 23 kilometers west of the port city of Bandar Abbas, the capital of Hormozgan Province, Shahid Rajaee Port is Iran’s biggest container port.
Over half of Iran’s commercial trading is carried out at Shahid Rajaee. The port complex also accounts for over 85% of all container throughput in the country.
According to Mohammad Reza Rezaei-Kouchi, the head of Majlis Development Commission, Shahid Rajaee Port has a 6% share in the region’s total container throughput per annum.