Iran: Maritime based economy

Speaking at a specialized meeting on the IMO's carbon emission reduction requirements, Omid Shakeri, Iranian Deputy Oil Minister for engineering, research, and technology stressed that maritime-based economy is a national mission.

He announced the new requirements set by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to reduce carbon emissions in the shipping sector stating, "The policies for developing a maritime-based economy, which were issued by the Leader in November 2023, have opened new horizons for the oil industry, maritime transportation, and modern technologies."

He noted that these regulations could be both a threat and an opportunity, emphasizing, "If we aim to expand international trade, maritime transportation in compliance with global standards is inevitable. We believe that through timely action and reliance on engineering and research capabilities, we can turn this threat into an opportunity."

Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO), in a report, has underlined the importance of the country’s maritime capacities and the role that the sector can play in developing the country’s economy.

According to the report, maritime sector in Iran has very high capacity in various fields including trade, ports and shipping due to the country’s strategic location, long coastal strip in the north and south and access to open waters, and can bring economic prosperity to the country.

“About a third of the country's borders are water borders, so we cannot ignore port and shipping activities because for a country that has long water borders and access to open waters, the prosperity of shipping and maritime trade is essential. Therefore, the government should pay full attention to the strengths and weaknesses of this sector and make the best use of the current capacities with proper planning,” the report read.

Increasing the share of the maritime sector in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) under the framework of the newly proposed maritime-oriented policy should be one of the most important concerns of the government, which can be achieved with proper planning, the PMO said.

The share of the sea in the gross domestic product in advanced coastal countries such as the European Union is 50 percent, but the figure is not significant in Iran despite having more than 5,800 kilometers of coastal strip, and this is despite the fact that there are huge capacities for the transit of goods from Central Asian countries.

 

Iran to invest US$2 billion in maritime projects

Head of Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) Ali-Akbar Safaei has said that investment in maritime projects across the country is going to be increased to one quadrillion rials (about US$2.01 billion) in order to realize maritime economy goals.

So far 189 trillion rials (about US$381.2 million) have been invested in various maritime projects across the country, Safaei said on Thursday in a televised interview with IRIB.

Mentioning the remarks of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei regarding the significance of the maritime economy, the official said the PMO has been named as the body in charge of realizing the country’s maritime economy goals.

In this regard, the parliament has also prepared the necessary legal basis in the maritime sector to increase the share of the sea economy in the country's economic growth, he said.

He pointed to the oil industry, marine food sector, and tourism as some major axes of the maritime economy, noting that in the offshore sector, the main issue is to form economic poles on the coastal regions.

Back in May, Safaei said that over US$800 million of maritime and port projects were underway in the country.

In November 2022, PMO announced that the organization has modified its investment charter in order to facilitate foreign investment in the country’s ports.

“Since economic diplomacy is a major policy of the 13th government, the charter of investment in ports has been facilitated with the aim of attracting foreign investors,” IRNA quoted PMO Deputy Head Jalil Eslami as saying.

Speaking in a gathering of PMO managers with oil and petrochemical industry representatives, Eslami said: “We live in a period when ports infrastructure development is very important and over the past few decades positive efforts have been made to increase the capacity of ports in the south and north of the country.”

According to the official, the capacity of the country’s ports is going to be increased to 280 million tons per annum in the near future.

Later in March this year, Iranian Transport and Urban Development Minister Mehrdad Bazrpash inaugurated 10 major maritime projects worth 42.951 trillion rials (about US$81.1 million) in southern Hormozgan province.

 

Iran adds 15 ships to its merchant fleet

Iran has added 15 ships to its trade maritime fleet in the Caspian Sea amid growing trade ties with Russia and other countries located to the north of Iran.

According to Mehr News Agency, the head of Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) has said that expanding Iran’s northern fleet of commercial vessels has become a priority for the country’s Transport and Urban Development Ministry, of which the PMO is a subsidiary.

“Given that the volume of trade with neighboring countries to the north is growing, the first priority for the ministry is to expand the fleet and to increase the capacity in the Caspian Sea,” Ali-Akbar Safaei said on Saturday.

Safaei said Iran’s Caspian Sea merchant fleet will further expand in the near future with the arrival of new ships from the Volga River.

The announcement comes amid growing shipping activity in the Caspian Sea as Russia and other countries have ramped up their exports and imports via Iran and its southern ports.

Media reports and statements by Iranian authorities show there has been a major surge in trade via the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), a route that connects the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean to countries to the north of Iran via the Iranian road and rail transportation network.

Iran has created new infrastructure, including modern port operation systems, in its northern ports to both facilitate cargo transit via the INSTC and to increase its own exports to Russia and other countries.

Last month, Iran and Russia signed a contract to build a key railway along the Caspian Sea that would significantly boost trade via INSTC’s western branch.