A total of 55.44 million tons of goods were loaded and unloaded at Iran’s 22 commercial ports from the beginning of the current Iranian year on March 21 to August 6, registering a 1.54% decline compared with the similar period of last year, data released by the Ports and Maritime Organization show.
Loading and unloading of dry bulk cargo stood at 16.31 million tons (up 1.1% year-on-year), liquid bulk at 1.12 million tons (down 37.43% YOY), general cargo at 8.11 million tons (up 2.6% YOY), oil products at 20,36 million tons (down 2.77% YOY) and containers throughput at 850,000 TEUs (up 4.6% YOY).
The 22 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 the Persian Gulf, Shahid Rajaee, Shahid Bahonar, Shahid Haqqani, 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 Caspian Sea shoreline.
Shahid Rajaee Special Economic Zone, located in the southern Hormozgan Province, accounts for the highest share of all goods exported from and imported to Iran.
The economic zone, which has a loading/unloading capacity of 100 million tons per year, accounts for over half of Iran's trade and about two-thirds of total freight transit through the country.
The lion’s share of Iran's containers are handled at Shahid Rajaee Port Complex. With 18 gantry cranes and 40 berths, it is the most advanced container port of Iran.
Launched in 1985, the port is currently connected to 80 ports worldwide.
The significance of this port lies in its large capacity, its Persian Gulf location, container terminal, fuel bunkering, access to 24 kilometers of railroads and round-the-clock truck transportation.
Iran’s 22 commercial ports handled a total of 152.91 million tons of goods (loading and unloading) in the last Iranian year that ended on March 20, 2022, registering a 17% growth in throughput compared with the year before.
Container throughput stood at 2.1 million TEUs during the period, registering a 13.5% year-on-year increase. Around 46.89 million tons of dry bulk cargo, 3.76 million tons of liquid bulk cargo and 21.83 million tons of general cargo were handled during the period, registering a 12.8%, 12.6% and 13.1% rise compared with the previous year respectively.
