Goods Transit via Iran Exceeds 7 Million Tons

EghtesadOnline: More than 7.06 million tons of oil and non-oil commodities were transited through Iran’s 32 land and marine borders during the first nine months of the current Iranian year (March 21-Dec. 21) to register a 4% rise compared with the corresponding period of last year.

News ID: ۷۴۶۵۰۶

16 January 2019

According to Director General of Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization's Transit and International Transportation Bureau Reza Nafisi, 4.427 million tons of the total sum (about 62%) were non-oil products, IRNA reported.

"The main transited non-oil products during the nine-month period were auto spare parts, cotton, agricultural products and food products," he said.

More than 2.06 million tons of commodities were transited from Shahid Rajaee Port in the city of Bandar Abbas in the southern Hormozgan Province during the period, accounting for 29% of all goods in transit, according to Financial Tribune.

In fact, the port was the most active point of entry among the country’s border terminals during the nine months.

Located 23 kilometers west of the port city of Bandar Abbas, the capital of Hormozgan Province, Shahid Rajaee Port is Iran’s biggest container port at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz.

Over half of Iran’s commercial trading is carried out at Shahid Rajaee Port, which also accounts for over 85% of all container throughput in the country.

Shahid Rajaee Port was followed by the border terminals of Parvizkhan in Kermanshah and Bashmaq in Kurdestan, accounting for 22% and 10% of all the transited goods respectively.

Nafisi added that the majority of goods in transit headed from Iraq to the UAE.

The routes leading from the border crossings of Parvizkhan to Imam Khomeini Port, Shahid Rajaee Port to Bashmaq and Shahid Rajaee to Dogharoun in Khorasan Razavi Province were the busiest.

The official added that 73% of the transit over the period was carried out by Iranian fleet.

“Thanks to measures taken by the Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization for coordinating with the bodies concerned and engaging in transit-related negotiations with neighboring countries as well as our cooperation with the private sector active in the international transportation sector, we were able to increase our transit figures despite the pressure and limitations imposed by the US in this respect,” Nafisi was quoted as saying by RMTO news portal recently.

The United States has renewed sanctions against Iran after unilaterally pulling out of the nuclear deal Iran signed with world powers in 2015.

The landmark deal had led to the lifting of international economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic. In exchange, Tehran limited the scope of its nuclear program.

The US pullout from the deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, comes as the International Atomic Energy Agency maintains that Iran has remained committed to the nuclear deal. Europe is working hard to salvage JCPOA.