IRISL: Chabahar Port upgrade to continue regardless of foreign investor exit
Head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Company (IRISL), Mohammad Reza Modarres-Khiabani, said on Wednesday that the departure of foreign investors from Chabahar Port in southeast Iran would not harm the port, and the company is ready to accelerate its development.
Modarres-Khiabani made the remarks nearly a month after the United States revoked the sanctions waiver for Iran’s Chabahar Port, threatening India’s multi-million-dollar investment in the strategic project.
The White House announced on September 18 that the exemption, in place since 2018, will end on September 29.
“With the completion of the Zahedan-Chabahar railway, the North-South corridor will enter a new phase, and the IRISL is fully prepared to expand cargo transport along this route,” Modarres-Khiabani said.
“Therefore, we have long maintained that the exit of foreign investors from Chabahar Port will not affect the port, and the shipping company is ready to speed up its development,” he added.
In the first year of the shipping group’s presence at Chabahar Port, he said, container operations grew from zero to 6,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). By 2024, the figure had jumped to 88,000 TEUs, and the company expects it to reach 130,000 TEUs by the end of the current year.
“This would elevate Chabahar from the smallest port in southern Iran to the second-largest after Bandar Abbas,” he added.
Leveraging domestic capacity
Modarres-Khiabani said 80% of the fleet’s current needs are met using domestic production, injecting around $300 million annually into the local market. More than 90% of the low-sulfur fuel required for vessels is supplied domestically. At Chabahar, where refueling had been limited, the use of local fuel and refueling vessels has largely addressed the issue.
He emphasized that supplying the national economy remains a strategic priority for the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Company.
Ranked 17th among global container shipping companies
The CEO added that IRISL currently ranks 17th among the world’s largest container shipping firms and has remained among the top 20 for about a decade.
The active fleet comprises 144 vessels with a combined capacity of five million tons deadweight (DWT), including 160 TEU container capacity. The company also owns 324,000 TEUs of containers to support export and import services for domestic traders and manufacturers, alongside approximately 1,600 freight wagons in operation.