Bandar Abbas

Bandar Abbas, port city on the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s premier maritime gateway. It also serves as the capital of Hormozgān province. It lies on the northern shore of Hormuz Bay opposite the islands of Qeshm, Lārak, and Hormuz. The summer climate is oppressively hot and humid, and many inhabitants then move to cooler places; however, winter is pleasant.

Bandar Abbas (Bandar-e ʿAbbās, “Port of ʿAbbās”) was established in 1623 by Shah ʿAbbās I to replace the city of Hormuz, which had been captured by the Portuguese about 1514. During the 17th century it was the main port of Persia, but it lost this status in the 18th century to the rival “Port of Būshehr” (Bandar-e Būshehr). From about 1793 Bandar Abbas was under lease to the rulers of Muscat (now in Oman), but in 1868 Iran canceled the contract and resumed direct control.

The port’s imports consist mainly of manufactured goods. Its exports include Kermān rugs, petroleum products, and agricultural produce. The city has a cotton mill, a fish cannery, and refineries for oil and gas. The roadstead is shallow and badly sheltered, and vessels must sometimes lie 4 miles (6.5 km) out. Despite the poor quality at the time of its port facilities, the city boomed during the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s when Iran’s more westerly ports were threatened. At that point, Shahid Rajaee port, located southwest of the city, began to dominate Iran’s shipping activity, and by the 2020s it was handling more than four-fifths of Iran’s loading and unloading of shipping containers. The construction of the Iran Shipbuilding & Offshore Industries Complex (ISOICO), an industrial complex for shipbuilding, allowed Iran to become self-sufficient in its maritime activities in the early 20th century. Pop. (2011) 435,751; (2016) 526,648.