Existential philosophy of ports is meant by loading and unloading performance of goods and is proceeded by the quality and speed in loading and unloading perations and reaches development and prosperity. This means, in addition to the continuo us increase of quality, efficient use of time and an attempt to remove disturbing factors in the port performance, are the keys to success.
Aim
: The main objective of this study is to identify and rank the factors affecting loading and unloading performance in Bushehr Port. Secondary goal of the study is compiling and providing suggestions to make loading and unloading operations efficient and consequently increase performance. Methodology: This is an a pplied research in terms of aim and is descriptive in terms of data collection method. In fact, in this research, descriptive -survey methodology was used. A series of data collected from previous research were refined by using exploratory factor analysis and eventually affecting factors were ranked by the Friedman test.
Results
: According to the collected data and conducting exploratory factor analysis, the effective factors affecting loading and unloading operation in Bushehr Port were extracted and consequently, 5factors or latent variables, namely ship, loading and unloading, terminal, cargo owner and port were identified. At last, the Friedman test determined that the factor loading and unloading was the most significant factor with average rank of 3.5and the factor terminal with only difference of 0.02was the second factor, then ship factors, cargo owner and port were the most important factors respectively. Conclusions: According to the results of the study, managers, administrators, and staff must emphasize the main affecting factors namely loading and unloading factors, terminal factor and their constituent variables in order to improve loading and unloading performance in Bushehr Port, which do not have significant difference In terms of importance