PMO ready to provide facilities to buyers of vessels

Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) is ready to provide bank facilities to the buyers of Roll on-Roll off (Ro-Ro) vessels as well as passenger ferries to improve activities in the country's northern ports, IRNA reported, quoting a senior official with the organization.

Speaking in a video conference meeting of PMO deputies on Saturday, the Deputy Head for Ports and Economic Affairs Farhad Montaser Kouhsari said the organization is ready to provide bank facilities equal to 80 percent of the total price of Ro-Ro vessels and also equal to the full price for touristic ferries.

Referring to the organization's measures for reducing the pile-up of goods in the country's ports, Montaser Kouhsari said” “In collaboration with other bodies and agencies such as customs, quarantine and standard institution, etc., we are witnessing the clearance of more than 1.2 million tons of basic goods from the country’s ports.”

He also announced special incentive packages including discounts of more than 50 percent for the export, transit and transship container sections, and added: “A 50-percent discount is considered for vessels with under 1,000-ton capacity, to support them during these difficult conditions of sanctions and the outbreak of the coronavirus.”

The official also underlined the important role of the private sector in developing the country’s maritime industries and noted that the shipping lines and maritime bodies should utilize the capacities of the private sector to reduce the negative impacts of the pandemic and also the U.S. sanctions on this sector.

Montaser Kouhsari had earlier said that in the past few years, PMO has changed its approach and strategies from authority and ownership to supervision and support and that has had a great impact on the involvement of the private sector in the port projects and has increased the level of investments.

“This change in approach has had a positive effect on the private sector performance and has encouraged investors to engage in economic activities in the country's ports,” the official said.

Preparation and updating of various packages for attracting domestic and foreign investment, and development and updating of appropriate regulations to allocate a percentage of government revenues from maritime trade activities to the development of coastal areas and protection of the marine environment were mentioned by the official as factors that could contribute to the development of the country's maritime sector.