A total of 650,000 tons of goods were loaded and unloaded in the southern Bushehr Province during the first two months of the current Iranian year (March 21-May 21), showing a twofold increase compared with the similar period of last year, according to the province’s Ports and Maritime Organization.
“Mineral products and essential goods accounted for the lion’s share of exports and imports during the period under review,” Siavash Arjomandzadeh was quoted as saying by the news portal of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development.
The official noted that a vessel with a capacity of 31,000 tons, carrying rice, recently berthed at the port.
Iran’s foreign trade stood at 145.7 million tons worth $73 billion in the last Iranian year (March 2020-21), of which 25.05 million tons worth $8.42 billion were cleared via the southern Bushehr Province’s customs terminals.
“Bushehr Province’s customs office had a 16.6% [about one-sixth] and 11% share in weight and value of Iran’s overall foreign trade during the period respectively,” Behrouz Qarehbeygi, director general of Bushehr Customs Administration, was quoted as saying by IRNA.
The official noted that 24.56 million tons of goods were exported from Bushehr’s customs office and 482,000 tons were imported over the period under review.
The exports mainly included petrochemicals, gas condensates and mineral products shipped to China, the UAE, Turkey, Pakistan, Singapore, Qatar, India, Brazil, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Imports mostly included banana, auto tiers and spare parts, fabric, fittings, industrial faucets and batteries, which mainly came from China, the UAE, India, the Philippines, Ecuador, Germany, Russia, Italy, South Korea and Spain.
According to the head of Bushehr Ports and Maritime Organization, a total of 45 million tons of commodities were loaded and unloaded in Bushehr Province’s ports last year.
“Oil and non-oil products accounted for 34.19 million tons and 10.36 million tons of the total sum respectively,” Arjomandzadeh said.
He added that container loading and unloading in southern Bushehr ports reached 209,847 TEUs.
“Some 6,552 vessels entered the province’s ports, 1,850 of which weighed over 1,000 tons. Moreover, 237,000 passengers were transported through these ports, 118,000 of whom were incoming and 119,000 were outgoing.”
The dredging of inner and outer channels of the southern port of Bushehr completed last year.
The 1.9 trillion-rial ($8 million) project, which deepened the channels to 10.8 meters, allows for 30,000-ton deadweight ships to call at the terminal.
About 5.75 million cubic meters of sediments and debris were dredged from the channels over 20 months, Mohammad Rastad, the head of Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran said.
“Before the completion of this project, Bushehr Port could only accommodate ships with a cargo capacity of 15,000 tons.”
Bushehr is one of the important ports in Persian Gulf, which has an international airport and highways connecting the city to Ahvaz to the northwest and Shiraz to the northeast. A secondary coastal road links Bushehr to Bandar Abbas to the southeast.