Data published on the Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran's website show that non-oil goods accounted for more than 83.08 million tons of the total throughput, indicating an 18.59% fall year-on-year.
The remaining 34.2 million tons pertained to oil products, down 13.13% YOY.
Container loading and unloading decreased by 41.12% to stand at nearly 1.67 million TEUs, according to Financial Tribune.
More than 57.08 million tons of commodities were exported from the ports under review and nearly 25.15 million tons were imported during the 11-month period.
Iran's overall exports during the same period, excluding crude oil, mazut, kerosene and suitcase trade, hit 105.9 million tons worth $40.07 billion to register a 6.36% decrease in weight and a 0.74% fall in value YOY.
Imports hit 28.92 million tons worth $38.5 billion, down 21.47% in weight and 19.2% in value over last year’s similar period.
Iran’s overall non-oil foreign trade during the period, according to a report by IRNA citing statistics from the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration, stood at $78.57 billion.
Compared with IRICA's data for last year, this year’s foreign trade indicates a 12% decrease. In fact, the country recorded a trade surplus of $1.57 billion during the 11 months.
The PMO data also show a total of 6.16 million tons of goods were transited through the Iranian port under review during the 11 months.
According to Deputy Head of Ports and Maritime Organization Hadi Haqshenas, more than 200 vessels load and unload at Iranian ports daily, Mehr News Agency reported.
Chairman of Majlis Development Commission Mohammad Reza Rezaei says Iran’s 11 major commercial ports have up to 80% untapped capacity, as only 20% of their capacity are being put to use, IRNA reported.
The 21 ports under study include Iran’s southern ports of Abadan, Imam Khomeini, Bushehr, Khorramshahr, Genaveh, Lengeh, Chavibdeh, Arvandkenar, Charak and Dayyer located on the shores of the Persian Gulf, Shahid Rajaee, Shahid Bahonar, Qeshm and Tiab at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz, Jask and Chabahar on the coasts of the Sea of Oman and the northern ports of Fereydounkenar, Noshahr, Astara, Amirabad and Anzali on the shore of Caspian Sea.
Busiest Ports
Close to 61.65 million tons of commodities were loaded and unloaded in Hormozgan Province’s Shahid Rajaee Port, registering a 21.13% decline compared with the similar period of last year.
In fact, Shahid Rajaee was Iran's busiest port during the period.
Non-oil goods accounted for around 39.66 million tons and oil products for 21.98 million tons of the total throughput, registering a 28.22% and 4.02% decline respectively year-on-year.
Located 23 kilometers west of the port city of Bandar Abbas, the capital of Hormozgan Province, Shahid Rajaee Port is Iran’s biggest container port.
Over half of Iran’s commercial trading is carried out at Shahid Rajaee. The port complex also accounts for over 85% of all container throughput in the country.
According to Mohammad Reza Rezaei-Kouchi, the head of Majlis Development Commission, Shahid Rajaee Port has a 6% share in the region’s total container throughput, ILNA reported.
Loading and unloading at the strategic Iranian port stood at 87.03 million tons in the last fiscal year (March 2017-18), to register an 8% increase compared with the year before.
Non-oil exports from the port exceeded 39.39 million tons to register an 8% rise while imports reached 9.58 million tons—almost unchanged year-on-year.
Oil exports and imports from and into the port stood close to 8.12 million and 2.7 million tons respectively last year.
Imam Khomeini Port in the southern Khuzestan Province was the second busiest Iranian port, handling more than 37.14 million tons of commodities. The figure shows a 5.46% fall YOY.
Non-oil goods accounted for 24.53 million tons and oil products for around 12.6 million tons of the total throughput in Imam Khomeini Port, registering a 3.35% rise and an 18.92% fall respectively year-on-year.
The third busiest was Qeshm Port also in southern Iran. More than 5.31 million tons of goods were loaded and unloaded there, indicating an 11.85% fall compared with the similar period of last year.
Non-oil goods accounted for more than 5.2 million tons and oil products for 104,766 tons of the total throughput in Qeshm Port, showing a 12.05% and 1.17% decline respectively YOY.
More than 15.2 million passengers were transported to and from the aforementioned ports, registering a 6.26% decrease compared with last year’s similar period.