TEHRAN (Iran News) –  Loading and unloading of goods rose 16 percent at Shahid Rajaee port, Iran’s largest and most-equipped container port, during the first four months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-July 22), as compared to the same period of time in the past year, a provincial official stated.

Alireza Mohammadi, the director-general of Ports and Maritime Department of southern Hormozgan province where the port is located, announced that 563,908 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of cargoes were loaded and unloaded at Shahid Rajaee port in the four-month period.

The official also said that 550 container ships have been berthed at the port since the beginning of this year.

As announced by an official with the Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO), 46.18 million tons of commodities have been loaded and unloaded at Iranian ports during the first four months of the current year.

According to the PMO’s director for ports affairs Ravanbakhsh Behzadian, the mentioned figure has increased by 9.8 percent compared to the previous year’s same period during which 42.07 million tons of goods had been loaded and unloaded, IRNA reported.

Loading and unloading operations in the container sector stood at 6.66 million tons, in dry bulk at 13.69 million tons, while for the liquid bulk the figure was 1.47 million tons, for general cargo 6.89 million tons and for petroleum products amounted to 17.46 million tons, Behzadian further explained.

He noted that the volume of loading and unloading of liquid bulk cargoes in the said four months increased by 39.8 percent compared to the same period last year, while the figure increased by 25.3 percent, and 22.7 for the general and petroleum cargoes, respectively.

As reported by IRNA, the outbreak of the coronavirus and the imposition of restrictions on the shipping traffic at borders led to a 55 percent decline in loading and unloading operations at the country’s ports in the first 16 days of the current Iranian calendar year, but the situation has improved gradually.

Despite all limitations and barriers created by the pandemic and the U.S. sanctions on the country, Iran’s port activities, which play some major part in the country’s trade, have been improving in recent months.

The latest reports released in terms of the loading and unloading operation in the ports of the country are an indication of such improvements.