TEHRAN: Iran has decided to increase the capacity of its ports to great extent. The reloading and loading capacity of northern and southern ports in Iran has reached to 185 million tons annually, causing an increase by 210 million tons, says Port and Maritime Organization’s Managing Director.
Mohammad Saeednejad told IRNA that passenger transportation in ports has reached 17 million which will rise to 21 million by the end of the plan.
He said although ports have the capacity of reloading and loading 185 million tons per year however currently reloading and loading of over 140 million tons are carried out at ports in the form of imports, exports, transit and transship.
The official said that during the first seven months of the current year reloading and loading at ports showed an increase of 9% and the trend will continue up to the end of the year.
He said now the largest ships in the world can dock at Shahid Rajaei Port and expressed hope that through proper investments and development of the port its capacity will increase to 8.5 million containers annually.
Pointing to the advantages of making economic investment in northern and southern ports of the country, Saeednejad said over fifty thousand billion rials have been invested in the country’s ports and his organization is determined to allocate seven thousand to eight thousand billion rials for the construction of new docks, development of the port and maintenance of equipment.
He said currently many foreign companies are visiting Iranian ports with an aim of making investment in different port and navigation fields.
