Azerbaijan, Baku, Apr.17/ Trend G.Mehdi/
Iran earns some 14 trillion rials (about $1.15 billion) annually through transiting goods via the ports, the Fars News Agency quoted head of Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization Ataollah Sadr as saying.
Around $140 billion worth of goods are annually transited via Iranian ports, he added.
In February, IRNA quoted Iranian Roads and Urban Development Minister Ali Nikzad as saying that the total capacity of Iranian ports has increased by 80 million tons during the past eight years, reaching 184 million tons.
Emam Khomeini and Shahid Rajaii ports are the two key ports, accounting for 90 per cent of the total capacity, he added.
Meanwhile, in February, ISNA quoted Sadr as saying that building 60 small and multi-purpose ports across Iran is underway.
He also added that 11 major Iranian ports have loading and unloading capacity of up to 172 million tons.
In December 2012, Sadr said the capacities at Shahid Rajaee Port, Shahid Beheshti Port, and Bandar Anzali Port will be doubled respectively to six million tons, six million tons and 16 million tons respecively.
He added that just 135 million tons of the ports' capacity is currently being used for loading and unloading goods.
The ports have a capacity of 5.7 million TEU, but only three million TEU of the capacity is being used, he noted.