According to Bloomberg, Iran’s state-run shipping business has begun its first transfer of Russian products to India via a new trade corridor that passes via the Islamic Republic. Iran’s Chabahar port and the transcontinental trade route that begins there have rekindled interest from both Tehran and New Delhi in expanding overland commerce with Russia. The subject was a hot topic during Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-visit Abdollahian to Delhi, according to Money Control.
Chabahar Port is a seaport in Chabahar, Iran, on the Gulf of Oman in southern Iran. It is Iran’s sole oceanic port, and it is divided into two independent ports, Shahid Kalantari and Shahid Beheshti, each with five berths. In May 2016, India and Iran struck a bilateral agreement under which India will renovate one of the berths at Shahid Beheshti port and rebuild a 600-meter-long cargo handling facility.
Following the reinstatement of sanctions on Iran, foreign firms grew hesitant to engage in the port’s growth, and only 10% of the port’s entire capacity of 8.5 million tonnes was used in 2019. Sanctions have had an impact on India’s participation and investment in the $1.6 billion Chabahar–Zahedan railway. The completion of a long-delayed multimodal transportation corridor via Iran would significantly improve bilateral commerce between Russia and India, but it is not just the economics that is at risk. This is a daring action in the face of the possibility of US penalties.
The state-owned Container Corporation of India (Concor) and the Russian Railways Logistics Joint Stock Company (RZD) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to transport cargo between India and Russia – on a single invoice – via the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), a 7,200-kilometer multi-modal transportation network project stretching from Iran to Astrakhan, Russia.
Since Russia was sanctioned for its actions in Ukraine, Iranian officials have been eager to restart a dormant project to build the so-called North-South Transit Corridor, which would utilize Iran to connect Russia to Asian export markets. The concept calls for the construction of a train line that will transport commodities arriving from Iranian Caspian Sea ports to the southern port of Chabahar.
Post Your Comments