Investigating the Situation of the Bunkering Industry in Iran

The purpose of this research is to study and survey of the Iranian Bunkering industry in the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea. This research is applied in terms of purpose and methodologically qualitative-quantitative with an exploratory approach. Its statistical population consists of two parts: one part of the qualitative statistical population consists of experts in the Bunkering industry and the quantitative part includes managers and staff of companies active in the Iranian Bunkering industry. Experts were selected through the snowball sampling method and the managers and experts of companies involved in the Bunkering industry were selected by the complete census sampling method. Data gathering tool is a questionnaire whose formal validity was confirmed by experts and its construct validity by the statistical methods. The reliability of the questionnaire was assessed through Cronbach's alpha. Data were analyzed using software SPSS and Lisrel (The period of data collection and research information is 1398). Finally, the findings of the Delphi technique showed that the six variables of port software and hardware infrastructures, sustainable fuel supply, cost of providing services with competitive price, supply of other ancillary services, port rules and regulations and geographical advantages have an impact on the development of the bunkering industry. The results also showed that Iran's Bunkering industry is not in a desirable position due to the identified indices.