Iran's Maritime Transit Up 49%: MPO

Upon the end of the 13th administration in Iran, the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development during a press conference presented a report on its performance in the ports and maritime since August 2021.

Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development and CEO of Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO)  Ali Akbar Safaei said that the PMO has a comprehensive approach towards the development of ports for balanced growth in all sectors including infrastructure, managerial and labor force. 

Safaei said maritime trade has been one of the important fields of achievements of the PMO as sea trade reached 237 million tons in 2023 compared to 215 million tons in 2022. The sea trade has had a 10 percent growth within three months compared to the same period in 2023 with 60 million tons of trade, he noted, adding hat non-oil exports grew 56 percent compared to last year. 

Trade growth with Russia and Kazakhstan through Nowshahr Port has grown by 70%, through Amirabad Port by 45% and through Anzali Port by 30%, he stated. 

The promotion of trade with the neighboring countries is indicated in transit with a volume of 16 million tons transit, he said.

In attracting foreign investments, the PMO has secured contracts with five countries including India that invested $120 million for equipping and operation of Shahid Beheshti Port in Chabahar. Also, the PMO has facilitated the attraction of domestic investments through the revision of rules and regulations. As a result, the private sector invested 620,000 billion IRR in the maritime sector.

The PMO's plan for increasing the nominal capacity of ports included 167 projects with 440,000 billion IRR which has led to a 20 million tons increase since last year. Port throughput has increased from 280 to 300 million tons in 2023. Furthermore, 405 projects with 1480000 billion IRR are underway.

Additionally, facilitation of the business environment has been another important initiative in the PMO mainly through the unification of software networks including maritime, port, financial, engineering, etc. 

Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran has the training of expert labor force, their employment, and advancing different study plans e.g. for coastal regions, sustainable development of 41 islands, commercial ports, etc. on its agenda, the website of Iran's Ministry of Roads and Urban Development reported.

The volume of loading and unloading has been 25 million tons of basic goods in 3 years of the 13th government. 

With new ships, the average age of the maritime fleet of Iran is 19 years.