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The explosion at Shahid Rajaei Port has exposed the problems at Iran’s ports<\/strong><\/p>\n In a recent interview with IRNA (Islamic Republic News Agency), Dr.Keyvan Jafari Tehrani, a senior analyst of global steel and mining markets, discussed the recent explosion at the Shahid Rajaei Port and the factors preventing this important port from fulfilling its potential.<\/p>\n Dr. Keyvan stated that due to inadequate equipment and logistics infrastructure in Iranian ports, especially in the Shahid Rajavi Port, where most of the goods are received, the goods are piling up and taking a long time to exit.
\nIn addition to its strategic geographical location, Shahid Rajaei Port, a huge port complex described as the import and export gateway and regulatory center of the Iranian economy, is of great importance as it handles 70% of the country’s total commodity transactions and more than 58% of non-oil transactions.
\nLast week’s explosion and fire at the Shahid Rajai Port has brought to the fore the need for reforms in the port’s management, especially in the process of fast-tracking containers.
\nIn this context, President Masoud Pezeshkian called for scientific and practical solutions. At a crisis management meeting held a day after the incident, he noted\u00a0the prolonged holding of 120,000 to 140,000 containers at the port was unacceptable and stressed the need to speed up the process of unloading the goods.
\n30 thousand tons of coal burned in the port
\nIn this context, senior analyst\u00a0Dr.Keyvan noted that the explosion and fire at the port affected an area large enough to be noticed 20 miles away, as the internal temperature of the containers reached 60-70\u00b0C due to the air temperatures and high humidity. He also stated that 30,000 tons of coal burned in the port due to lack of adequate equipment, causing a loss of USD 1.2 million.
\nReferring to the reasons for the accumulation of containers at the port,\u00a0Dr. Keyvan stated that normally containers are allowed to stay at the port for a maximum of 3 months, but some goods have been unregistered for more than 5 months. In addition to foreign currency allocation problems, he noted that some owners deliberately choose to keep their goods at the port because storage fees at Iranian ports are much lower than at international ports.
\nEmphasizing that during the coronavirus pandemic, some container owners sold the containers to steel mills to be melted down, while containers produced after 2022 are more valuable,\u00a0Dr. Keyvan stated that the container cost alone of the approximately 140,000 containers in Shahid Rajavi Port could reach USD 420 million. He noted that these containers are capital goods and their rapid transformation is of great economic importance. Therefore, he stressed that the problems at the Shahid Rajai Port must be brought up to international standards in order to boost the country’s economic development.<\/p>\n