Tehran, July 10, 2024 (MRUD NEWS)—Upon the end of the 13th Government in Iran, Iran's Ministry of Roads and Urban Development during a press conference presented its performance in the ports and maritime since August 2021.
In the press conference, Ali Akbar Safaei, Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development and the managing director of Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO), said the PMO has a comprehensive approach towards the development of ports for a balanced growth in all sectors including infrastructure, managerial and labor force.
Safaei said maritime trade has been one of the important achievements of the PMO as sea trade has reached 237 million tons in 2023 compared to 215 million tons in 2022. The sea trade in 2024 has a 10 percent growth within three months period compared to the same period in 2023 with 60 million tons trade. Similarly, non-oil exports had 56 percent growth 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%, while the main import from these two countries is grain.
The promotion of trade with the neighboring countries is indicated in transit with a volume of 16 million tons transit.
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 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.
Previously, Iran's Minister of Roads and Urban Development set three main priorities of Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) for 2024. Based on these missions, three strategies of "sea-based economy", "transit", and "logistics management" will be primarily followed up by the PMO.