Rail Transport of Essential Goods From Imam Khomeini Port Doubles

EghtesadOnline: A total of 359,683 tons of essential goods were transported via railroad from the southern Imam Khomeini Port to destinations across the country during the first two months of the current Iranian year (March 20-May 20) to register a 119% rise compared with the similar period of last year, according to the director general of Khuzestan Province’s Ports and Maritime Organization.

News ID: ۷۵۰۲۱۷

13 June 2020

“These goods were transported using 6,529 wagons, registering a 115% year-on-year increase,” Adel Deris was also quoted as saying by the news portal of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development.

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

Imam Khomeini Port enjoys 120 kilometers of railroads within its premises. Last year (March 2019-20), 3 million tons of goods were transported from this port using around 53,000 tons.

Latest data released by PMO show the southern port was the second busiest port during the two-month period after Hormozgan Province’s Shahid Rajaee Port, handling more than 6.29 million tons of commodities. The figure shows a 16.57% YOY decline.

Non-oil goods accounted for 4.77 million tons and oil products for close to 1.52 million tons of the total throughput at Imam Khomeini Port, registering a 12.02% increase and a 28.23% fall respectively year-on-year.

Imam Khomeini Port is the main hub for the import of essential goods in Iran.

By May 31, a total of 4.17 million tons of essential goods had been unloaded at Iranian ports, of which Imam Khomeini Port accounted for more than 3 million tons, according to Mehrdad Jamal-Arvanaqi, the deputy head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration.

The remaining imported essential goods, including wheat, corn, oilseeds, barley, sugar, vegetable oils and soybeans, had been unloaded at the ports of Shahid Rajaee, Amirabad, Shahid Bahonar, Bushehr, Khorramshahr, Noshahr and Fereydounkenar, he added.

“About 559,000 tons of essential goods are being discharged at Imam Khomeini Port, 5,500 tons at Anzali Port and 9,743 tons at Amirabad Port. All in all, 16 vessels are unloading 574,427 tons of essential goods at these three ports,” he was quoted as saying by Fars News Agency recently.

A total of 25.09 million tons of essential goods worth close to $15.5 billion were imported into Iran during the last fiscal year (March 2019-20) to register a 20.77% and 17.13% increase in weight and value respectively compared with the year before, according to the spokesman of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs administration, Rouhollah Latifi.

This volume of essential goods imports accounted for close to 71% and 35% of the volume and value of last year’s total imports respectively, the official was quoted as saying by ISNA.

“The imported essential commodities included wheat, sugar, corn, rubber, barley, processed tea, rice, different kinds of seeds, red meat, soybeans, pulses, paper, fertilizers and industrial machinery,” Latifi said.