Tehran, Iran, May 24
By Kamyar Eghbalnejad - Trend:
An agreement for the construction of Iran’s first-ever fully automated terminal was signed in Tehran, under which the country would be able to increase the volume of its mineral exports.
The document was signed in the Iranian capital on May 23 between Sistan and Baluchestan province’s Ports and Maritime Department and an Iranian private company, according to the official website of IMIDRO (Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization).
Director of IMIDRO Mehdi Karbasian and Mohammad Rastad, the country’s Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) head, were present at the signing ceremony.
The terminal will be built in the southeastern port city of Chabahar on the shores of the Indian Ocean.
The planned terminal would have a loading capacity of 15 million tons of minerals and will be constructed in an area of 13 hectares, the report said.
The creation of the terminal will allow establishing 250 direct and indirect jobs.
During the ceremony, Karbasian described the port of Chabahar as a key spot for Iran’s mineral industries, noting that “Afghanistan has huge mineral resources and we are hopeful we could export their minerals through the Chabahar port”.
With new moderated prices for services offered at Chabahar’s Shahid Beheshti Port, this southeastern Iranian port has turned into the cheapest option for doing business in the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea.
Foreign ships belonging to international liners are entitled to a 90 percent discount on terminal handling charges for a three-month period, followed by a 70 percent discount for the second quarter and then a 30 percent discount will be extended for the next six months. PMO will grant a 30 percent discount to international ship liners in their second year of operation in Chabahar. On top of that, more discounts will be offered on ports’ duties, according to Iranian media outlets.