TEHRAN- More than 11 million tons of goods were loaded and unloaded at the ports of Iran during the first Iranian calendar month (March 21-April 20), IRNA reported on Monday citing the data released by the Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO).

Loading and unloading at the ports of country has increased 15 percent during the past Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20), according to the PMO Managing Director Mohammad Rastad.

In a press conference in last Wednesday, the official announced that his organization will reduce tariffs on maritime and port activities significantly in the current Iranian calendar year (begins on March 21).

He mentioned promoting the performance of ports and quality of port equipment to attract large shipping lines, elevating the status of exporters and also reducing the end prices of imported commodities as some objectives behind reduction of tariffs.

New tariffs are simpler and clearer to meet the satisfaction of those operators who complained about complicated tariffs, the managing director noted, adding different affecting factors such as foreign currency exchange rate has been considered in specifying these tariffs.

MA