50% Growth in Essential Goods Imports From Iran's Imam Khomeini Port

EghtesadOnline: Close to 9 million tons of essential goods were unloaded at Imam Khomeini Port located in the southern Khuzestan Province during the first half of the current Iranian year (March 21-Sept. 22), which shows a 50% growth compared with the similar period of last year.

News ID: ۷۴۸۷۰۵

14 October 2019

According to Director General of Khuzestan Ports and Maritime Organization Adel Deris, a total of 172 vessels docked at the port for unloading essential goods, ILNA reported.

Presently, between 75% and 80% of all essential goods imported into Iran are unloaded at Imam Khomeini Port.

Also known as necessity goods, essential goods are products consumers will buy, regardless of changes in income levels, according to Financial Tribune.

Imam Khomeini Port was the second busiest port after Hormozgan Province’s Shahid Rajaee Port during the six months under review, handling close to 22.69 million tons of commodities. The figure shows an 8.7% increase YOY.

Essential goods accounted for around 9 million tons (about 40%) of Imam Khomeini Port's total throughput in H1, according to Deris, who doubles as the manager of Imam Khomeini Port's Special Economic Zone.

The imported essential goods mainly included wheat, corn, soybeans, barley, rice, sugar and vegetable oils.

Based on the latest figures published in the Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran, non-oil goods accounted for more than 15.26 million tons and oil products for over 7.42 million tons of the total throughput in Imam Khomeini Port, registering a 20.02% growth and a 8.94% fall respectively year-on-year.

A total of 72.81 million tons of commodities were loaded and unloaded in Iran’s 21 commercial ports during the first half of the current Iranian year (March 21-Sept. 22) to register a 2.56% growth compared with the corresponding period of last year.

Non-oil goods accounted for over 50.22 million tons of the total throughput, showing a 4.74% year-on-year rise.

The remaining 22.59 million tons pertained to oil products, indicating a 1.96% decrease YOY.

Container loading and unloading declined by 47.24% to stand at 663,613 TEUs.

More than 36.64 million tons of commodities were exported from the ports under review and over 16.08 million tons were imported during the six-month period, showing a 6.28% and 13.85% growth respectively compared with the similar period of last year.

A total of 2.45 million tons of goods were transited through these ports during the same period to register a 38.92% decline YOY.

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 the 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 on the shoreline of Caspian Sea.

Imam Khomeini Port is located at the terminus of the Trans-Iranian Railroad linking the Persian Gulf with Tehran and on to the Caspian Sea. It is a transshipment point for containers, bulk and general cargo, with exclusive access to the facilities held by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines.

The port has seven terminals with 40 berths of about 6,500-meter frontage.

“It’s business as usual when it comes to money transfer for the import of essential goods. The processing of transactions and shipments into Iranian ports has not changed since a year ago,” Mohammad Rastad, the head of Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran, said recently.

He made the statement in response to a question about Reuters’ report that claimed more than 20 ships carrying around 1 million tons of grain were held up outside Iranian ports due to payment problems created by the new round of US sanctions against the Central Bank of Iran.

Over 100,000 tons of essential goods are being discharged at Iranian ports every day and 13 docks are exclusively reserved for vessels employed in the trade of essential goods, the PMO chief was quoted as saying by ILNA.

“The queue of ships has been formed because of the increase in the volume of imports.”

Echoing similar remarks, Director General of Khuzestan Ports and Maritime Organization Adel Deris said, "The ships are advised to go to other ports, including Chabahar and Shahid Rajaee, due to the large volume of loading at Imam Khomeini Port. We have no difficulties with unloading ships over the US sanctions. At present, Imam Khomeini Port's capacity is 3 million tons. In contrast, 24 million tons of goods were loaded in the first half of this year."