Imam Khomeini Port in the southern Khuzestan Province held ground-breaking and inauguration ceremonies for 18 investment and development projects worth 15.79 trillion rials ($61.2 million) on Wednesday.
The event was attended by Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mohammad Eslami and CEO of the Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran Mohammad Rastad, Fars News Agency reported.
Among the most important inaugurated projects were four multipurpose warehouses, oil product reservoirs and a mechanized grain terminal.
Also, two projects for the construction of edible oil refineries became operational on the same day.
Other projects included the overhauling of wharfs and railroads inside the port’s premises, dredging operations, fixing breakwaters and providing proper lighting.
Close to 90% of Iran’s demand for livestock feed raw material as well as 79% of grains are imported through this southern port.
Last year (March 2019-20), the port handled nearly 15.7 million tons of essential goods. It is the main hub of essential goods imports.
Director General of Khuzestan Province’s Ports and Maritime Organization Adel Deris told IRNA that Imam Khomeini Port has 40 wharfs, 140 kilometers of railroads within its premises and is equipped with the latest loading and unloading facilities.
In the last fiscal year (March 2019-20), 3 million tons of goods were transported from this port via 53,000 wagons.
Imam Khomeini Port was the second busiest port after Shahid Rajaee Port during the first six months of the current Iranian year (March 20-Sept. 21), handling more than 18.17 million tons of commodities. The figure shows a 19.91% fall year-on-year.
Non-oil goods accounted for 12.81 million tons and oil products for close to 5.36 million tons of the total throughput at Imam Khomeini Port over the six-month period, registering an 11.59% and 34.61% fall respectively YOY.
