Financial Tribune - President Hassan Rouhani, who is visiting the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan,�inaugurated the first phase of Chabahar�s Shahid Beheshti Port on Sunday.

Senior officials from 13 countries, including ministers of transportation and their deputies as well as their ambassadors, were in attendance, managing director of Ports and Maritime Organization, Mohammad Rastad, was quoted as saying by IRNA on Thursday.

With a 8.5-million-ton capacity, the port is expected to play a significant role in facilitating trade between regional countries, particularly India and Afghanistan.

The current loading and unloading capacities of the port will increase from 2.5 million tons to 8.5 million tons upon the completion of Phase 1, which will see the docking of super-large container ships (between 100,000 DWT and 120,000 DWT) at the strategic Iranian port.

A total of $1 billion have been invested on the development and equipment of Phase 1.

Shahid Beheshti Port will have four phases with an overall capacity of 77 million tons based on the long-term goal set for its development project.

�Transit via Chabahar�s Shahid Beheshti Port is $1,000 cheaper than ports of Pakistan and even 15 million rials ($375) cheaper than Shahid Rajaee Port, Iran�s biggest container port at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz,� Behrouz Aqaei, director general of Ports and Maritime Organization of Sistan-Baluchestan Province, said.