433

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Themainsystemsandmechanismsofregulationof

theglobalmaritimetransport

Although,cargoascontainerhasbeenincreasedmore

thanfivetimessince1990,thereforeitcausedthatthe

world’sfleetofcontainershipshas developed about

seventimes.Apartfromthesignificanceoftimeand



expensesontransitofcontainers,safetyofcontainers

or quality of container handling operation is vital

issueatthecontainerterminals.

It should be noted that in the last two decades,

containertransportationsystemhasbeenfacedunder

increasingdevelopment,insuchawaythattherateof

this development

has reached to 7 or 9 percent in a

yearanditispredictedthatthisincreasewillhavea

rateofabout10percentuntil2020whileforothersea

transportation means, the rate will be just 2 percent

annually.[1] The development of dry ports has

Strategic Planning for Port Development:

Improvement of Container Transit from the Iranian

Southern Ports Terminals

H.Yousefi

KhoramshahrUniversityofMarineScienceandTechnology,Iran



ABSTRACT: The author attempts to highlight the significance of the Iranian southern ports development

strategyplanningwhichallows for themaximumcontainertransitwith minimum resources suchasservice

capacities,humanresources,andfinancialpotentialinordertoexpandtheIraniancontainer

transit.Itshould

benotedthatthestrategicobjectives,thebusinessstrategyanditsimplementationcanbearrangedonlyafter

the port vision and mission obviously delineated. For the purpose of improving the outcome of the ports

operational management, it is recommended to concentrate on new strategies such as exploit of

 transit

corridorsfordevelopmentoftheIranianSouthPorts.Thema inpartofthispaperisdedicatedtoevaluatethe

roleof container transitfrom the Iranian south ports terminals from various transport corridors in order to

improveMaritimeTransportinIran.Theimportanceofdefining theexistingandpotential

competitorsatthe

Persian Gulf and making a comparison between their and our own strengths and weaknesses is of utmost

importance.Sometimes,therealbusinessopportunitiesandthreatsareplacedbeyondone’sownlineofindus‐

tryandbusiness.Itisthereforenecessarytomakeacareful analysisoftheport

environment.After theport

competitionandenvironmenthavebeenanalyzed,itwouldbepossibletoinitiatethebuildingoftheSWOT

analysisfortheIranianSouthernContainerTerminalssuchasKhoramshahr,ImamKhomani,Busher, Bandar

Abbas and Chabahar port which have suitable strategic position as transit base in the region.

The SWOT

analysismethodisthereforeappliedaimingatdefining theweaknessesandstrengthsoftheeconomicsubjects

aswellasopportunitiesandthreatscomingfromtheenvironment.Thenextsegmentofthispaperisdedicated

to consider the role of dry ports and the International North‐South Transit Corridor for

 the purpose of

improvingtheIraniancontainertrade.



http://www.transnav.eu

the International Journal

on Marine Navigation

and Safety of Sea Transportation

Volume 7

Number 3

September 2013

DOI:10.12716/1001.07.03.16

434

becomepossibleowingtotheincreaseinmulti‐modal

transitofcargoesutilizingroad,railandsea.

2 GLOBALCONTAINERTRADE

Table 1  shows part of the latest figures available on

world container port traffic for 65 developing

economies andunderline Islamic republic of Iran

withanannualpercentagegrowth

ofcontainertrade

which changes between 2008‐ 2009 to 10.31 and

between 2009‐2010 to 17.50. It should be noted that

Containertradein2010increasedby8percentonthe

Far East–Europe route, and by 10 per cent on the

trans‐PacificAsia–NorthAmericaroute.

In2010,the

portofShanghaiforthefirsttimetook

the title of the world’s busiest container port from

Singapore, with a throughput of 29.2 million TEUs.

The10countries registeringthehighestgrowthwere

Ecuador (49.2 per cent), Djibouti (45.7 per cent),

Namibia (44.7 per cent), Morocco (32.9 per cent),

Jordan (15.8

 per cent), Lebanon (15.4  per cent), the

Syrian Arab Republic (12.2 per cent), Dominican

Republic (11 per cent), the Islamic Republic of Iran

(10.3percent)andSudan(10.3percent).[2]

The country with the largest share of container

throughput is China, with nine  ports in the top 20.

The

DominicanRepublichasbeenonthelistofports

withdouble‐digitgrowthforthelastthreeyears.The

country with the largest share of container

throughputcontinuestobeChina.[3]

Table1.ContainerporttrafficoftheIslamicrepublicofIran

Source:TheReportofUNCTAD2011



Table 2 shows the world’s 20 leading container

ports for 2008–2010. This list includes 14 ports from

developing economies, all of which are in Asia; the

remaining6portsarefromdevelopedcountries,3of

which are located in Europe and 3 in North

America.[2]Themajorityoftheports

listedremained

in the same position for the third consecutive year,

although the ports further down the league were

subject to considerable shifting of fortunes and

jostling for position. The top five ports all retained

their respective positions in 2010, with Shanghai

retainingitsleadastheworld’sbusiestcontainerport,



followed by Singapore, Hong Kong, Shenzhen and

Bussan as shown in table.2. The gap between

Shanghai and Singapore shortened as it shows that

Singapore was in first step in 2008 and 2009, the

modification of the figures for the both terminals in

2010is638,200TEUs,andin2009is864,400

TEUs.

The resumption of manufacturing activity and

globaltradeincontainerizedgoodsledtoarecovery

ofdemandforlinershippingservicesinearly2010.In

2009, however, the market was particularly bad for

containershipping,asdemanddroppedby9percent

while supply grew by 5.1 per cent (Fig.2),

 the

difference between these two figures being a

staggering 14.1 percentage points. For the first time

since 2005, demand is now forecast to grow faster

thansupply(in2010).

Table2.Toptencontainerterminalandtheirthroughput

Source:TheReportofUNCTADMay2011



A market segment of particular interest to many

developing countries is containerized trade in

refrigeratedcargo,suchasfruit,vegetables,meatand

fish. Until the mid‐1990s, the majority of this trade

was transported in specialized reefer vessels. Since

then,theentiregrowthinthismarkethasbeentaken

over

by containershipping,installingslotsforreefer

containersonnewcontainerships

At the beginning of 2010, the capacity to carry

reefercargoincontainersstoodat2,898millioncubic

feet,whichwas9.5timesgreaterthanthecapacity on

specialized reefer ships. The export of refrigerated

cargo by container

benefits from the global liner

shippingnetworksandbetterdoor‐to‐doortransport

services. At the same time, it obliges ports and

exporterstoinvestinthenecessaryequipment.Over

the last decade, exporters have benefited from the

435

increased competition between containerized and

specialized reefer transport providers. As the reefer

fleetisgettingolderandvesselsarebeingphasedout,

this market segment will become almost fully

containerized.[2]



Figure1. Supply and Demand of container shipping,

2000‐2011,Source:TheReportofUNCTAD2011

3 IRANIANCONTAINERTERMINALS

OPERATION

Location of the Iranian container terminals are as

follows: Khoramshahr, Imam Khomani, Bandar

Abbas, Bushahr and Chabahar Port in South and

Bandar Anzali, Noshahar and Amirabad Port in

North of Iran. It should be noted that due to

additional available capacity and a strong market,

traffic

 at Bandar Abbas, Iran’s main container

terminal,hascontinuedtoincrease.Theporthandled

2,231,200TEUin2010,anincreaseof15%onthesame

periodof2009.Theportisexpectingtohandlearound

2.5MTEU for the year asa whole. Phase one of the

port’ssecondcontainer

terminalopenedinFebruary

2008,increasingoverallcapacityto3.3MTEUperyear

and there are plans to double that in the next 36

months. Phase II of the new facility with another

terminal operator became operational at 2012. Since

2010 a computerized system or automation system

called TCTS 2010 system

 installed at Shahid Rajaee

container terminal which is located a Bandar Abbas

port.BasedontheInternationalregulationsanonline

communication system can be carried out by port

operator, custom, cargo receivers, shipping

companies,andTransportationcompanies,etc.

4 ADVANCEDEQUIPMENTREDUCE

HANDLINGTIMEOFTRANSITCONTAINERS

ATTHETERMINALS

Containerterminalsaredesignatedforthe handling,

storage, and possibly loading or unloading of cargo

intooroutofcontainers,andwherecontainerscanbe

pickedup,droppedoff,maintained,stored,orloaded

or unloaded from one mode of transport to another

(that is, vessel, truck, barge, or rail). Normally, a



containerterminalconsistsofdifferentsectionsuchas

POV(ParkingOfVehicles),AdministrationBuilding,

Containeryard,MY(MarshallingYard)withinbound

and outbound flow of containers  in the terminal. It

shouldbenotedthatthelatestefficiencyincontainer

terminal automation provided by Zebra Enterprise

Solutions is aimed at increasing

container terminal

capacitywhileimprovingportsafetyandsecurity.[3]

Designedtoassistcontainerterminaloperatorsinthe

management of manned andautomated port

equipment, our container terminal automation

solutionsimproveprocedures and processes, aswell

asenhancecontainer terminal equipment

usageaccuracy.Equipmentmanagementinformation

suchasmaintenanceschedules,equipmentidle

times,

fuellevelsanddriveraccountabilityofmotorizedand

(non‐motorized vehicles) and equipment can be

tracked,monitored and managed inreal‐time. There

havebeenanumberofrecentchangesintheusesof

advancetechnologiesatPortcontainerterminalsthat

are designed to improve efficiency and productivity

of

operations.Itisbecomingcommonpracticetosee

terminals operate with Optical Character Reader

(OCR), Automatic Equipment Identification (AEI),

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), and other

technologiessuchascamerasthatarealldesignedto

speed up the processing of containers  through the

terminal.Inrecentyears,simulationhasbecomeasan



useful tools in order to improve container terminal

operation. Simulation can be distinguished as the

following three groups: Strategically,operational,

and tactical simulation. Strategically is applied to

study of terminal layout and efficiency and costs of

equipment, operational simulation is related to test

differenttypesofterminallogisticsandoptimization

methods and finally, tactical simulation means

integrationof simulation systems into the terminal’s

operationsystems.

5 DRYPORTSASLOGISTICPOINTFOR

CONTAINERTRANSITOFTHETERMINALS

Atfirst,itisbettertounderstandtheconceptofadry

port. Mrs.Violeta Roso senior  lecturer of Chalmers

University in Sweden stated in

 this regard that “A

“dry port” is defined as “an inland intermodal

terminal directly connected to a seaport, with high

capacity traffic modes, where customers can

leave/collecttheirgoodsinintermodalloadingunits,

as if directly at the seaport”. And also, H.Yousefi

(2011) expressed that A dry port is generally

a rail

terminal situated in an inland area with rail

connections to one or more container seaports. The

developmentofdryportshasbecomepossibleowing

to the increase in multi‐modal transit of goods

utilizingroad, rail andsea. This in turn has become

increasingly common due to the spread

 of

containerization which has facilitated the quick

transferoffreightfromseatorailorfromrailtoroad.

So,Dryportscanthereforeplayanimportantpartin

ensuringthe efficienttransitofgoodsfromafactory

intheircountryoforigintoaretaildistributionpoint

inthe

countryofdestination.[4]

The Persian Gulf has an area of approximately

240,000km

2

andisveryshallow,averagingjust50m‐

80m(1994;1997),withonlyoneopening–theStraitof

Hormuz linking the Persian Gulf with the Arabian

Sea. There are eight littoral Gulf States – Iran, Iraq,

Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and

Oman. The establishment of a shared place as dry



port for all the above Gulf States will improve

436

maritimetransportationatthePersianGulf.Basedon

IMO and WTO and the other relevant International

regulations,itisnecessarytoconsidertheexperiences

of the container terminals operation at the Persian

Gulf ports. It is useful for specifying the hub of

container terminals at the Persian Gulf for further



consideration.Thecapacityandoperationalmethods

ofmaritimetransport,tradeandtransitofcontainerat

theterminalscanbeanalyzedbyusingtheBalanced

Scorecard as an effective management tool which is

used for improving container terminals activities at

theGulf.Attheoperationalstages,relevantagencies

includinggovernmentdepartments

directlyinvolved

in daily operations of dry ports are shown in the

diagrambelow:Inordertorunadryportefficiently,

various agencies including government and

nongovernmentagencieswithdueauthorityaretobe

placedinthedesignateddryportpremises.

6 DRYPORTSINIRAN

6.1 AprincentralTerminal



Aprin is located at 21 kilometer of south western

Tehran which is at the intersection of East‐West &

North‐South railway junctions and is accessible to a

numberofhighways.Apringoodsinterchange central

area is 100 hectares & construction of 110 storage

houses&containerTerminalsarepredicted

initsarea

whichtheir establishmentsarenotcompleted.Before

theIslamicRevolutionin1977,aregioncalledAprin

was earmarked to the IRISL, which is linked to the

railway.Adryportisayardusedtoplacecontainers

or conventional bulk cargo, and which is usually

connectedtoa

seaportbyrailorroadandhasservices

like, storage, consolidation, and maintenance of

containersandcustomsclearance.Theymaybeused

for shipping, receiving and distribution centers

designed to relieve the congestion in increasingly

busyseaports,likeaninlandport.AprinTerminalas

adryporthasthepotential

tofeedTehranconsuming

Market & its surrounding industrial regions. At

present,astoragehousehavingtheareaof9000m2is

activated at Aprin center & its annual output is

approximately5000TEU.AprinTerminalwhichupon

itsformalactivationcommencementwillbeclassified

as off‐shore dry ports, would

 have considerable

interests; in case of coordinating with customs, the

corresponding goods will be transported to the

destination of Aprin center through railway after

discharge & loading at sea ports of Shahid Rjaee in

thiscontextgoodsownersareabletodirectlyreferto

AprinCentertoreceivetheirrespective

goods.

Aprin terminal which is equipped with Reach

Stacker, Side lift, Lift truck, Bascule, container

washing equipment 10 ton lift truck, the telescopic

boom 35 ton crane, and a version of TPTS

comprehensive & commence software is able to

commence its activity as the first Iranian dry port.

Recently, the Managing

 Director of Islamic Republic

of Iran Shipping Lines stated that Maragheh Special

EconomicZone(SEZ)inIranwillturnintoadryport

inthenearfuture.



Figure2.ThreeIntermodalTerminalsinIran

Source: Feasibility of establishment of “Dry Ports” in the

developing countries—the case of Iran, Springer Science,

Sep2010.

SinceMaraghehboastsrailroadandisadjacentto

Kurdistan province, the proposed terminal in

Maraghehwillexpeditecargo transport andmake it

easiertoprovideservices.



Figure3. Iran, Container Port Traffic (TEU:20 Foot

EquivalentUnits)

Source:tradingEconomics.com

6.2 ShahidMotahhariterminal

Thisterminalislocatedat36kmsouthofthecityof

Mashhadinthenorth‐eastofIran.Thesitealsohasan

access to the national highway. Its area is about

190ha and there are required facilities to handle

container transport needs. This terminal

 is managed

byprivatesector(DomesticVariousRelatedStatistics

andInformation[7].

6.3 Sarakhsterminal

Thisterminalislocatedat170kmnorth‐eastofcityof

Mashhad in the northeast of Iran at Iran‐

Turkmenistan border. Its strategic position can be

looked as an important gate to themarkets

of some

land‐locked countries. The site is also outfitted by

requiredfacilities(DomesticVariousRelatedStatistics

andInformation[7].

437

6.4 Sirjanterminal

Sirjan is located at Kerman Province which is away

180 Km from the capital of the state,its distance

from Banadr Abbas Port is 300 Km. Since Sirjan

linked to Bandar Abbas port and Tehran through

railway, therefore it has good location in order to

supportShahid

 Rajaee Container terminalat Banadr

AbbasPort.

7 THEINTERNATIONALNORTH‐SOUTH

CORRIDOR

India has taken the lead in what it calls “kick‐

starting”an“internationalnorth‐southcorridor”from

Iran to Russia via Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan to

ensure a seamless connectivity to Central Asia. It

shouldbenoted that

Indiawants this corridor tobe

operational by 2013. TheNorth‐South Transport

Corridoris a term used to describe theship,rail,

androadroute for moving freight fromSouth

AsiatoEuropethroughCentral Asia, theCaucasus,

andRussia.[11]Therouteprimarilyinvolvesmoving

goods from India via

 ship toIran. From Iran, the

freight moves by ship across theCaspian Sea or by

truckorrailtoSouthernRussia.Fromthere,thegoods

aretransportedbytruckorrailalongtheVolgaRiver

through Moscow toNorthern Europe. In 2001,

Russia,Iran,andIndiasignedanagreement

tofurther

develop the route. The Government of India had

started this project with the view to enhance trade

relations between South Asia and Central Asia. The

primary step towards trade enhancement, was

signing of Memorandum of understanding between

Indian and Iran over the development ofChabahar

portandtransshipment facility

 atBanadr Abbas and

ImamKhomaniport.ThisʺInternationalNorth‐South

TransportCorridorʺwillhaveitsstartingpointfrom

Mumbai,andviatransshipmentthegoodswillreach

BandarAbbasPortinIran,thenarailwaylinkwillbe

establishedbetween Iran, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan

anditwillfinallyreachRussia.India

andRussiawill

strive to revive the North‐South Transport Corridor

(NSTC)throughIranthathasfailedtotakeoffmore

than 10 years after the three countries signed an

agreementtosetupthetraderoute.IndiaandRussia

agreed to “enhance connectivity” through the NSTC

including through China, the

 Embassy release said.

The international North‐South transport corridor

(ITC) linking India, Iran and Russia is becoming

increasinglypopular,andislikelytobecomethe“Silk

Road“20thcentury.”Thistraderoutewillcutbytwo‐

thirds the time of cargo transportation from Indian

OceanareasandPersiangulf to

Europe,andreduce

thepriceofshipmentofeachcargocontainerby400

dollars.By2005Russia,IndiaandIranplantodouble

cargoflows,bringingthemtoeightmilliontones.

ITCistoensurethedeliveryofcargosfromIndian

Ocean and Persian Gulf regions to Iranian ports on

the

CaspianSea,tobetakenupbyferriestoRussiaʹs

railroadterminalsor,byriver‐marinevessels,through

Russiaʹs inland waters  to countries of eastern and

central Europe and Scandinavia. Distance of new

route (Green line in the following figure) in

comparison to the previous route is 40%

shorter; it

means that instead of 45‐60 days it becomes 25‐30

days.



Figure4.Greenlineasnew,short,andcheaproute

Source:Internet,SiteofWikipedia

Inaddition,inthenewroutethepriceofshipment

of each cargo container 30% cheaper than previous

route.[11] The ITC Coordination Council such as

representativesofIran,India,andRussia,hadinvited

delegationsofBelarusandKazakhstan, toattend.The

latestmeetingoftheCoordinatingCouncilinTehran

approvedBelarus,

Kazakhstan, Oman and Tajikistan

as new ITC members. The applications from Syria,

Azerbaijan and Armenia are currently under

consideration.TajikistanandOmanwilljointheITC

agreement shortly. The INSTC was expanded to

include eleven new members, namely: Republic of

Azerbaijan, Republic of Armenia, Republic of

Kazakhstan,KyrgyzRepublic,Republic

ofTajikistan,

RepublicofTurkey,RepublicofUkraine,Republicof

Belarus, Oman, Syria, Bulgaria (Observed). The

Astrakhan transport hub occupies an important

location in the North‐South ITC. It is a transitpoint

for some three million tones of cargoes bound for

CaspianSeaportsofIran.Anincreaseincargo

flows,

whichbeganaftertheemergenceoftheITC,required

the construction of additional port facilities in this

region.

Innearfuture,trainferrieswilltakecargostothe

port of Amir Abad in Iran. The construction of a

containerterminalintheportofMakhachkalabegan

in2002,and

bytheendofthisyearitscapacitywill

reach30520TEUayear.



Figure5.AstrakhanasmainlocationofNorthSouthITC

Source:Source:Internet,SiteofWikipedia

438

Itisplannedtobringthecapacityoftheterminal

to61000TUEayearinthenearestfuture.Atpresent,

containershipmentthroughtheportofMakhachkala

mostlyproceedsalongtheRussia‐Iranroute.[11]



Figure6.ThelocationofMakhachkalaportinCaspianSea.

Source:Source:Internet,SiteofWikipedia

At present, several operators work on the ITC

transport market, who gained the necessary

experience, made business contacts and now

successfully fulfill cargo ownersʹ orders. A healthy

competitionbetweenthemensuresastablehighlevel

oftransportservices.TheNorth‐SouthITCwillhavea

tremendous economic, political and strategic

significance

thiscentury.Tobridgethetwocontinents

istheimportantmissionoftheNorth‐SouthITC.

8 THEROLEOFSWOTANALYSIS

SWOTmatrixisamethod for the identification of

internal Strengths and Weaknesses, external threats

andopportunitiesinthecontextoftherealizationofa

particular project. The

SWOT matrix is shown in

table.3ofthispaper.

Table3.SWOTmatrix

_______________________________________________

PositiveNegative

_______________________________________________

InternalFactors  Strengths(S)  Weaknesses(W)

ExternalFactors  Opportunities(O) Threats(T)

_______________________________________________



SWOTanalysisisawidelyacknowledgedstrategic

toolandconstitutesanimportantelementofstrategic

(long term) planning. SWOT analysis is a method

which provides for the balance to be introduced

between the internal capabilities and external

possibilities. In other words, it is a set of logical

methodsused

toevaluateone’sowncapabilitiesand

weaknesseswiththeopportunitiesandthreatsinthe

environmentasthestrategiesshownintable.4ofthis

section.



Table4.SWOTanalysis

Internal

factors



External

factors

ListofStrengths

(S)

ListofWeakness

(W)

Listof

Opportunities

(O)

Howdoyou

controlyour

strengthsto

benefitfrom

opportunities?



(SO‐Strategies)

Howdoyou

ensureyour

weaknesseswill

notstopyoufrom

opportunities?



(WO‐Strategies)

ListofThreats

(T)

Howdoyouuse

yourstrengthsto

minimizethe

impactofthreats?



(ST‐Strategies)

Howwillyoufix

weaknessesthat

canmakethreats

haveareal

impact?



(

WT‐Strate

ies

)



In order to have a successful implementation of

the strategy, it is necessary to understand the port

competition, to focus at the competition weaknesses

andavoidtheirstrengths.Itisthereforeimportantto

determine the existing and potential competitors,

making a comparison between them. In order to

establish a real

market position of the port, it is

necessarytomakealistoftheportessentialbusiness

factors, drawing a parallel with those of the

competitors. No SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses,

Opportunities,andThreats)Matrixcanbeworkedout

before analyzing the port competition and

environment. It shall not only cover all

 the

conceptionsbutalsogivethestrategyproposalsbased

ontheanalysisofexternalandinternalfactors.Inthis

regards, table.5 of this paper shows a comparison

betweenBandarAbbas,DubaiandRotterdamportfor

the purpose of their ranks, capacity of container

handling,useofadvancedequipment,etcin

2011.

Table5.CompetitiveMatrix

_______________________________________________

Success factors   W.C B.Abbas Dubai   Rotterdam

S W.S S W.S S W.S

_______________________________________________

ShareofContainer  0.20 2 0.40 3 0.60 4 0.80

MarketintheWorld

in2011

CapacityofContainer 0.15 2 0.30 3 0.45 4 0.60

Transportin2011(TEU)

TheEquipmentfor  0.20 3 0.60 4 0.80 4 0.80

ContainerHandling

Operation

ContainerPortinthe 0.25 2  0.50 3

 0.75 4 1.00

WorldRankings

in2011

RankofContainer  0.20 1 0.20 3 0.60 3 0.60

Operatorsattheport

_______________________________________________

Total1.00 2.00  3.20  3.80

_______________________________________________

Keyofthetable:

W.C:WeightedCoefficient,

S:Score

W.S:WeightedScore



The general questionnaire for SWOT analysis,

created within the project, focuses mainly on the

logistics of cargoes, transportation flows, types of

cargo transport and other questions related to the

logistics of container substances. This questionnaire

439

wasaddressedtocargoplants,logistics’corporations

and institutions/organizations related to the field of

containerhandlingandlogisticsanditwasanswered

during personal interviews realized with competent

managersoftherelevantorganizations.

In other words, the efforts shall be made to

analyzetheportstrengthsandweaknessesandmake



anevaluationoftheopportunitiesandthreats inthe

environment. The Matrix would therefore allow for

the identification of the relevant factors, positive or

negative, which have a considerable impact on the

realizationofthestrategictargets,andassuchmakeit

possible for us to influence the factors in

time, i.e.

bring a new approach to the realization of the

strategicobjectives.SWOTanalysiswasdividedinto

twomainsectors.ExternalThreatsandOpportunities

were scrutinized in the first segment, while internal

Strengths and Weaknesses were monitored in the

second segment. The word “External” refers to a

factorfromthe

externalenvironmentofthecompany,

whichcannotbeinfluencedbytheinterviewedinthe

existingsituation.“Internal”referstoafactor,which

canbe influenced by the company itself. The SWOT

questionnairewasdividedintosubcategoriessuchas

economic,social,cultural,political,andtechnological

trendsandsoon.

9 CONCLUSION

ImprovementoftheIraniancontainertransitfromthe

International transit corridor can be carried out by

usingtheadvancedequipmentforhandlingoperation

atthecontainerterminals;itcausestoreducethetime

vesselsspentintheports.Itshouldbenotedthatthe

Competitiveadvantageofacontainerterminalat

the

Iranianportsisachievedbytheintegratedscheduling

ofvarioustypesofhandlingequipmentwithanaidof

theusefulStrategicModelsatanautomatedcontainer

terminal.Itcanbeobservedthatuseofanoptimum

strategic planning at the container terminals may

cause to develop the efficient scheduling

of the

equipment in order to increases the productivity of

thecontainerterminals.Apartfromthesignificanceof

strategic planning on container transit, the other

factor which has great influence on developing the

Iraniansouthportsis the establishmentofdryports

underthefollowingthreecategories:a).Closetothe



Iranian container terminals, b). At the costal water

area, c). Very  far from the Iranian South Ports, in

ordertoincreasethecapacityofIraniantransitports.

ItshouldbenotedthattheIranianSouthPortswillbe

improved by analyzing the internal and external

environmentfactorsusingSWOTanalysis

inorderto

help for determining the current condition and to

identify majorpredictions and challenges that could

significantly impact strategy  implementation of

containertransit.

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