The situation of Iran:
Iran is a rather large country with an area of 1.6 million square kilometers and a population of more than 70 million. 45 percent of this population ranges between 15 to 40 years of age, that is, it is young population which demands economic growth, investment and creation of jobs, which in turn necessitates expansion of transport and logistics services. The following figures are some indications to the fact:
Imports: in the year 2007 Iran imported $ 37 billion of cargo from the following 12 countries in the row. Thus the total import is estimated at over $50 billion.
UAE, Germany, China, Swiss, South Korea, Britain, Italy, France, India, Japan, Turkey and Austria. What was brought in from UAE is to be considered as re-export.
Exports: in the same year we have exported about $ 10 million worth of non-oil commodities.
Transit: this has grown into a total of 11.7 billion tons with following break down:
- Sea (port) to road, 1703 thousand tons
- Road to road, 1530
- Road to sea, 294
- Port to port by road, 399
- Rail, 727
- Swap, 6007
The container operation has also increased by 22 percent over the year before yielding a thru-put of 1.7 million TEUs.
In near future we will be witnessing a remarkable jump in the petrochemical exports, made available from investments in the gas fields of South Pars.
Countries such as China, South Korea and India will become our major trade partners, although we may see a reduction or slackening of trade with Europe. Despite the ups and downs and political adversities of recent years, I believe trade and transport will resume its significance.
