Baku, Azerbaijan, March 18
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: More than 3.35 million tons of goods were loaded and unloaded at Iran's Amirabad port, located on the Caspian Sea, ISNA quoted Amirabad special economic zone director Ali Naeimi as saying on March 18.
The figure rose by 21 per cent compared to the same period in the previous year, he added.
Four new docks are projected to be built at the port, which will increase its shipment capacity by 2 million tons, he noted.
Amirabad port is equipped with the most advanced maritime and telecommunication facilities and is apt for industrial and trade investments, he said.
The port was officially inaugurated in 2008.
On Feb. 2, ISNA quoted head of Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization Ataollah Sadr as saying that building 60 small and multi-purpose ports across Iran is underway.
By the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20), 40 ports will be inaugurated, Sadr added.
Sadr went on to say that 11 major ports of Iran have the loading and unloading capacity of up to 172 million tons.
In December 2012, Sadr said that Iran plans to increase capacities of its commercial ports by 100 percent by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2013), IRIB reported.
Capacities at Shahid Rajaee Port, Shahid Beheshti Port, and Bandar Anzali Port will be doubled to 6 million tons, 6 million tons, and 16 million tons, he added.
He added that just 135 million tons of the ports' capacity is currently being used for loading and unloading goods.
The ports have the capacity of 5.7 million TEU, but only 3 million TEU of the capacity is being used, he noted.
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