Tehran, Iran, May 24
By Milad Fashtami - Trend:
China's Wan Hai shipping company announced its readiness to restart its activities in Iran's Shahid Rajaee port.
A high-ranking delegation from the company has travelled to the port to discuss possible ways of cooperation with Iranian officials, Iran's IRIB News Agency reported on May 24.
The company is reportedly ready to operate ships with capacity to carry 6,000 containers.
The loading and unloading capacity of Iran's Shahid Rajaee port currently stands at 88 million tons.
The port also has the capacity to load and unload 6 million TEU containers (twenty-foot equivalent unit), Iran's IRNA News reported on April 27.
Deputy director of Hormozagan province's Ports and Maritime Organization, Mojtaba Khoshniat, said that the port is becoming a key port in the region.
"Currently 145,000-ton ships and the 7th generation ships with the capacity to carry 15,000 TEUs can easily load and unload goods at the port," he explained.
Shahid Rajaee port is located in Hormozgan province in the South of Iran. Hormozgan province has more than 2400 km of sea border with shores in both Persian Gulf and the Oman Sea. It is close to the Strait of Hormuz, the most important maritime trade route.
"The port accounts for 55 percent of Iran's imports, exports, and transits in the region," Khoshniat explained.
Iran Customs Administration's latest report suggests that the country's total non-oil exports to foreign countries (excluding gas condensates) stood at $31.332 billion in previous year (which ended on March 20), while the country's total imports amounted to $50.818 billion.
The figures mark annual trade balance of -19.486 billion dollars for Iran.
Iran's annual trade turnover is projected to reach $160 billion by the end of the fifth five-year development plan (March 2016).
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