Ports authority fights Iran water pollution

Azerbaijan, Baku, June 13/Trend M. Moezzi The head of Iran's Ports and Maritime Organisation (PMO) said his organisation has spent more than $81.5 billion (USD) to fight pollution in the Caspian Sea, Mehr news agency reports. Sea transportation, oil and gas exploration and extraction, urban and industrial sewer waters and chemical fertilisers discharged into the sea are among the biggest threats to the Caspian, said Seyed Ataollah Sadr, PMO's managing director. Iran is using a combination of clean up vessels and equipment in its waters and three helicopters monitor for pollution from the air. The country's ports have been sent about $6 billion in skimmers, booms and sorbents. Next year, the PMO will add an advanced oil clean-up vessel to its fleet and has signed a contract for three 50-ton barges that will collect oil and chemical waste in Iran's northern and southern ports. The Persian Gulf plays a critical role in supplying the world with the oil it needs. That makes it one of the world's busiest shipping routes. More than 50,000 vessels pass through the Strait of Hormuz annually, 17 million barrels of oil a day sail through the strait as they head across the globe and 160 offshore drilling platforms and oil terminals are dotted around the Persian Gulf.