“The port handled 146,000 TEUs of imported goods during the same period to register a 19.4% decline year-on-year,” Allah-Morad Afifipour was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
The official added that container loading and unloading at the port stood at 567,421 TEUs in Q1.
Daryoush Baqer-Javan, director general of Hormozgan Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization, said last week that 703,671 tons of commodities were transited via Shahid Rajaee Port during the three-month period, which accounted for close to 29% of the incoming goods in transit, Financial Tribune reported.
The port was the most active point of entry among the country’s 32 border terminals over the period.
Overall, a total of 2.44 million tons of oil and non-oil products transited through Iran during the period, which shows a 6% rise compared with the corresponding period of last 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 at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz.
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.
Launched in 1985, the port has expanded every year thereafter. Today it is connected to 80 top ports across the world.
The significance of this port lies in its large capacity, including its location in the Persian Gulf, container terminal, fuel bunkering, access to 24 kilometers of railroads and round-the-clock truck transportation.
With 18 gantry cranes and 40 berths, Shahid Rajaee is the most advanced container port of Iran.
Mohammad Reza Allahyar, deputy head of Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization for engineering and infrastructure affairs, said last week that Iran has purchased 12 more gantry cranes worth €105 million for Shahid Rajaee from the German engineering firm Liebherr, who recently won a tender floated by PMO. Some of these cranes are already assembled and others are being put in place.
“The project, which includes design, provision of raw materials and parts, construction, loading and transportation of crane parts into the port, assembling and installing has made 90% progress overall. It is estimated that the project will come on stream during the second half of the current Iranian year,” he added.
According to Allahyar, the completion of the project will allow ultra large container vessels to berth at Shahid Rajaee Port.
President Hassan Rouhani broke ground on Phase 3 of Shahid Rajaee Port in February.
Upon the completion of the terminal within three years, the port’s capacity will increase to 8 million TEU, the official said, adding that about 10,000 billion rials ($222 million) will only be invested in improving the port’s infrastructure.
Hormozgan Province, where Shahid Rajaee is located, has 32 active ports, including Shahid Bahonar, Jask, Lengeh, Tiab, Aftab and Kish, which act as backups to Shahid Rajaee.