TEHRAN (Iran News) – The Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) of Iran plans to increase the annual loading and unloading capacities of the country’s commercial ports from 7.7 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) to eight million TEUs by Match 20, 2021.

Speaking to IRNA on Wednesday, Mohammad Rastad, the PMO’s chairman, added by implementing a number of development plans, the nominal loading and unloading capacities of the Iranian ports, currently standing at 246 million tons per year, will rise to 264 million tons per annum.

Rastad said to this end, the organization will construct a number of 100,000-ton silos in the southeastern Iranian port of Chabahar and complete the development project of the third phase of the southern port of Shahid Rajaei in the current calendar year starting March 20.

He added the PMO will also build a number of oil docks in Shahid Rajaei port by March for exports and transit of byproducts.

The PMO head noted that this year, his organization intends to cooperate with private companies to develop infrastructure in Iranian ports.

Rastad said 11 contracts were signed with the private sector last year for constructing terminals for oil storage tanks, warehouses, and manufacturing plants.

The official added Shahid Rajaei and Imam Khomeini (southwestern Iran) ports are home to PMO’s main investment projects.

On Sunday, Rastad said 4.1 million tons of basic goods are already stored at the country’s ports.

Speaking in a press conference on the loading and unloading of basic goods amid the coronavirus outbreak, he noted that 25 vessels are currently unloading their cargoes at the country’s commercial ports and 23 vessels are waiting to begin the unloading of their shipments.

The official said over 14.3 million tons of basic goods have been loaded and unloaded in the country’s ports since March 20, 35 percent less than the figure for the same period last year.

“Of this figure, 9.7 million tons were non-oil commodities, from which bulk goods had a share of 4.6 million tons, down 25.6 percent year-on-year.”

As for container cargoes, 172,000 TEUs entered the country’s ports, indicating a decrease of about 35 percent year-on-year, he said.

Acknowledging that the coronavirus outbreak has reduced the loading and unloading of goods in the country’s ports, Rastad noted: “The international trade has been negatively affected by the coronavirus spread and we have been witnessing a significant drop in maritime transportation worldwide. In 2019, about 11 billion tons of goods were transported by sea, which is expected to decrease by 600 million tons this year.”

However, since the coronavirus outbreak in Iran, the loading and unloading of goods in the county’s commercial ports have not been stopped even for a day, he stressed.

Noting that the number of shipbuilding orders in the first four months of 2020 have decreased by 71 percent compared to the same period last year, the official said the daily rentals of commercial vessels have also fallen due to reduced demand.