Iranian Ports Post 19% Growth in Trans-Shipment

Head of Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization Mohammad Rastad announced that his country’s ports have witnessed a 19.6 percent rise in trans-shipping goods in the 4-month span up to July 22, adding that the growth has been achieved in the face of the United States' unilateral sanctions against Tehran which entail restrictions on the country’s maritime activities.

Asserting that Iran has defied the US unilateral sanctions and maritime restriction, Rastad said on Sunday that Iranian ports have registered 1,255,670 tons of goods for trans-shipment in the 4-month period between March 21 and July 22 which shows a 19.6 percent growth in comparison with the corresponding period in 2018.

The official went on saying that according to the statistics, Iranian ports have embarked and disembarked 19,545,640 tons of goods in the same period which posts a 3.3 percent rise in non-oil exports in a year-on-year comparison.

He added that the ports have also witnessed a 3.4 percent growth in shipping oil and non-oil cargos with a total volume of 52,617,754 tons.

Iranian officials started planning for policies to counter the US possible sanctions a year before Donald Trump entered into office in early 2017. The policies are now proving effective as economic indexes are indicating inefficacy of the US pressures.

Last Sunday, Iranian Industry Minister Reza Rahmani said that despite US efforts to cripple Tehran’s economy, year-on-year comparison shows that the country’s domestic production has increased in the first quarter of the local calendar year (March 21-June 21).

“US sanctions were imposed to hamper production in Iran, however, we are proud to announce that after 14 months of sanctions the area has grown one percent in the first three months of the present Iranian year (started on March 21) in comparison with the corresponding period in last year," Rahmani said in Iran’s Northeastern province of North Khorasan.

"We did not let production decrease and that is a victory despite the difficulties we had under sanctions," he added.

The minister underlined that the government seeks to increase exports under the current conditions and called for providing the ground for investors.

Heading a delegation, the Iranian President paid a one-day visit to North Khorasan in line with the government’s provincial tours and inaugurated a number of projects in the Northeastern province.

Echoing a similar sense of economic progress, earlier on last Sunday, Director General of Port and Maritime Organization of Hormuzgan province Allah Morad Afifipour announced that Iran’s first quarter non-oil exports from the Southern port of Shahid Rajaei have increased by 10 percent compared with corresponding period in the last year.

An increasing trend has been reported from other Iranian customs gates for the same 3-month period.

Also, on last Sunday, Head of Markazi Customs Administration Esmaeil Hosseini said that more than 225 million worth of non-oil commodities have been exported from the central Iranian province of Markazi in the first three months of the current local calendar year, which shows a year-on-year increase by 4%.

More than 381,479 tons of non-oil commodities have been exported from Markazi province in the 3-month period, Hosseini said.

He added that the figures show a 4% growth in terms of value and a 12% decline in terms of tonnage compared with the similar period in last year.

On Saturday, the Customs Department in Iran’s Southeastern port city of Chabahar announced that the office has witnessed a 38% rise in its collections in the first 3 months of the current local calendar year, compared with the corresponding period in 2018.