Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb.24 / Trend F.Mehdi/
The total capacity of Iranian ports has increased by 80 million tons during the past eight years, reaching 184 million tons, IRNA quoted Iranian Roads and Urban Development Minister Ali Nikzad as saying.
Emam Khomeini and Shahid Rajaii ports are the two key ports, accounting for 90 percent of the total capacity, he added.
On Feb.2, ISNA quoted head of Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization Ataollah Sadr as saying that building 60 small and multi-purpose ports across Iran is underway.
By the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20), 40 ports will be inaugurated, Sadr added.
Sadr went on to say that 11 major ports of Iran have the loading and unloading capacity of up to 172 million tons.
In December 2012, Sadr said that Iran plans to increase capacities of its commercial ports by 100 percent by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2013), IRIB reported.
Capacities at Shahid Rajaee Port, Shahid Beheshti Port, and Bandar Anzali Port will be doubled to 6 million tons, 6 million tons, and 16 million tons, he added.
He added that just 135 million tons of the ports' capacity is currently being used for loading and unloading goods.
The ports have the capacity of 5.7 million TEU, but only 3 million TEU of the capacity is being used, he noted.
Iran's trade turnover in the first eight months of the current Iranian calendar year, which began on March 20, amounted to $65.5 billion.
The country conducted transactions with 150 countries during the mentioned period of time.
Exports stood at $28 billion, while imports surpassed $37.4 billion in the 8-month period.
Iran's annual trade turnover is projected to reach $160 billion by the end of the fifth five-year development plan (March 2016).