Latest figures published on the Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran’s website show non-oil goods accounted for 58.17 million tons of the total throughput, showing a 4.28% year-on-year rise.
The remaining 26.59 million tons pertained to oil products, indicating a 0.94% decline YOY.
Container loading and unloading declined by 44.8% to stand at 784,193 TEUs, accorrding to Financial Tribune.
More than 42.53 million tons of commodities were exported from the ports under review and close to 19.15 million tons were imported during the seven-month period, showing an 8.04% and 14.35% growth respectively compared with the similar period of last year.
A total of 2.74 million tons of goods were transited through these ports during the same period to register a 40.9% 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 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.
Busiest Ports
Close to 42.83 million tons of commodities were loaded and unloaded in Hormozgan Province’s Shahid Rajaee Port, registering a 4.56% rise compared with the similar period of last year.
Shahid Rajaee was the busiest port during the period under review. Non-oil goods accounted for 27.52 million tons and oil products for over 15.3 million tons of the total, showing a 3.74% and 5.86% growth respectively year-on-year.
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.
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 the head of Majlis Development Commission, Mohammad Reza Rezaei-Kouchi, Shahid Rajaee Port has a 6% share in the region’s total container throughput per annum, ILNA reported.
Imam Khomeini Port in the southern Khuzestan Province was the second busiest port during the six months under review, as it handled close to 27.05 million tons of commodities. The figure shows an 11.45% increase YOY.
Non-oil goods accounted for more than 18.1 million tons and oil products for over 8.94 million tons of the total throughput in Imam Khomeini Port, registering a 19.55% growth and 1.98% fall respectively year-on-year.
The third busiest was Qeshm Port also in southern Iran. More than 3.97 million tons of goods were loaded and unloaded there, indicating a 15.36% increase compared with the similar period of last year.
Non-oil goods accounted for over 3.89 tons and oil products for around 80,305 tons of the total throughput in Qeshm Port, showing a 14.76% and 35.92% growth respectively YOY.
A total of 7.2 million passengers were transported to and from the aforementioned ports, registering a 23.16% downfall compared with last year’s similar period.
Self-Sufficiency in Intermodal Container Production
Iran’s first intermodal shipping container production line was launched in Alborz Province in the presence of Roads Minister Mohammad Eslami, and the head of Iran Ports and Maritime Organization, Mohammad Rastad, last month.
According to Rastad, Iran's domestic demand for intermodal shipping containers stands at 750,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (often TEU or teu).
Prior to the inauguration of the new production line, only 200,000 TEUs were produced domestically. Now the entire domestic demand can be met locally.
According to Mohammad Ali Hassanzadeh, the deputy head of Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran, each container costs between $2,000 and $2,400. Renting intermodal shipping containers have also cost Iran $5 per day per container.
The official says the new production line will also create capacity for Iran to export multimodal containers.
The newly-inaugurated production line has the capacity to produce 100 containers daily.
Iran is the only country in the Persian Gulf region, Central Asia and Africa to produce intermodal containers.