Explosion at Shahid Rajaee Port and Its Impact on Import of Essential Goods and the Port Industry

A severe explosion occurred around noon on April 24, 2025 at the Shahid Rajaee Pier in Bandar Abbas, causing heavy casualties and property damage.

Engineer Jafari, CEO of Sina Port Services Company, where the incident occurred in the company’s container yard, said about the explosion: “According to the International Dangerous Goods Regulations, sea and land transport agents and custodians are required to declare dangerous cargoes to customs by stating their main and sub-groups and by submitting a safety data sheet before the goods enter the port, so that the cargoes entering the port can be packaged and labeled in accordance with the requirements of the regulations. Accordingly, ports transfer dangerous cargoes to special storage areas for dangerous goods that have been designed and constructed in the port zoning, within specific port areas.”

The accident occurred after the imported cargo was misdeclared. According to the CEO of Sina Port Development Services Company, the power and wave of the explosion, the radius of destruction, and other characteristics of the explosion indicated that the cargo was very dangerous, which, according to the FAL Convention and port laws and regulations, should have been officially and in writing declared to the port by the shipping company as dangerous goods; while this cargo was declared, packaged, and delivered to the port as ordinary, non-dangerous cargo.

Unfortunately, this false statement, by exposing the entire area from the ship to the warehouse in the port, caused this accident, and accordingly, the Sina Maritime and Port Services Development Company will take legal action.