The combined capacity of Iran’s five Caspian ports, namely Anzali, Noshahr, Fereydounkena, Astara and Amirabad, is about 35 million tons, accounting for only 13% of the total capacity of Iranian ports, according to Jalil Eslami, the deputy head of Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran.
“Poor export infrastructures and lack of adequate equipment are to blame for the low shipping traffic of northern Iranian ports and freight forwarding companies, as well as traders’ reluctance to use their services,” Ali Chagharvand, director of Plan Management, Planning and Monitoring Department of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, wrote for Tasnim News Agency.
"Traders and transportation companies do not avail themselves of the numerous advantages of Iran’s northern ports that are in recession. Economic players believe that they are uneconomical. This is while by removing obstacles, freight transportation and trade through northern ports can become a viable alternative to other transit routes and even southern ports,” he said.
According to Chagharvand, in the fiscal 2020-21, a meager 5-6 tons of the overall capacity of northern ports were used, as demand for their services has declined in recent years.
"Noshahr Port has considerable advantages, including its proximity to the capital city and major commercial and industrial centers, easy access to the consumer markets of Central Asia and Eastern Europe, access to the airport, availability of facilities for storage and movement of commercial goods, petroleum products and solid bulk, having exclusive warehouses and special facilities for export and transit, as well as direct connection through pipelines to Chalous oil reservoirs. However, due to many reasons, the port’s shipping traffic is even lower than that of Amirabad Port,” he said.
INSTC Operationalization
The operationalization of the International North-South Transport Corridor could give impetus to the northern ports.
Iran’s state-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line has moved to extend its network by facilitating the transport of Russian goods to India via INSTC, a land-sea corridor passing through a dozen countries to bypass Western sanctions against Russia, Splash247.com reported.
The corridor has become operational after completing a trial phase in June when containers of wood laminate sheets departed from St. Petersburg toward Nhava Sheva Port in India.
The cargo arrived in India earlier this month after traveling from Astrakhan Port in southern Russia to the Iranian ports of Anzali on the Caspian Sea and Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf.
The establishment of INSTC, the multimodal network of ships, rail and roads for moving freight between Eastern Europe and South Asia, was first introduced in September 2000. Due to geopolitical obstacles, interest in the route waned over time, but it has been reintroduced following the conflict in Ukraine.
IRISL has assigned 300 containers to transport goods between Russia and India, and if the demand increases, the number of these containers will rise considerably.
IRISL Plans to Promote Caspian Shipping
New vessels will soon join the IRISL fleet to increase the capacity of shipping in the Caspian Sea, says the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines.
“Agreements have been signed between Khazar Sea Shipping Lines [a subsidiary of IRISL Group] and a domestic manufacturer for the production of two RO-RO ships, in addition to two general cargo vessels, which are due to be delivered within two years,” Mohammad Reza Modarres-Khiabani, the CEO of IRISL Group, was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency recently.
With the four new vessels, the capacity of Khazar Sea Shipping Lines will increase by 16%, he added.
Established in 1992, Khazar Sea Shipping Lines is one of the biggest providers of marine transportation services in the Caspian Sea.
KSSL announced recently that container transit shipping lines have been launched between ports in northern Iran and Russia’s Makhachkala Port. It will from now on transport transit, refrigerated and general container consignments from ports in Iran’s northern provinces to the port in Makhachkala, previously known as Petrovskoye, IRNA reported.
Makhachkala is the only Russian port on the shores of the Caspian Sea, the access routes to which are not severed in winter by frozen waters.
Transporting containers from Iran to Moscow via this port is 30% more efficient in time and cost compared to the route that passes through Azerbaijan Republic.
Makhachkala is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Dagestan in Russia and is located along the shore of the Caspian Sea.
KSSL and the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran signed a memorandum of understanding on Oct. 13 to establish six regular shipping routes for the transport of freight between Iran’s northern ports in the Caspian Sea and those of Russia and Kazakhstan.
The signatories, Davoud Tafti, the CEO of Khazar Sea Shipping Lines, and Alireza Peymanpak, the head of TPO, agreed to expand these marine transportation lines to eight by March 2022.
“Freight will be transported on a regular schedule between the Iranian ports of Amirabad, Anzali and Noshahr, and Russia’s Makhachkala and Astrakhan, and Kazakhstan’s Aktau ports. Two other optional routes from Iran’s Astara and Fereydounkenar ports have been included in the MoU to carry cargo to the above-mentioned ports in Russia and Kazakhstan on demand,” Tafti was quoted as saying by ILNA.
TPO, affiliated with the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade, has also agreed to compensate any possible financial loss on the part of Khazar Sea Shipping Lines.
The shipping line has the capacity to annually transport 200,000 tons of cargo while container loading and unloading capacity amounts to 6,000 TEUs per year.
The company has 23 vessels under its name, 15 of which can carry containers.
Infrastructures are ready for commodity transit from Iran's southern ports to the north and through Caspian Sea, the CEO told Trend News Agency in an interview.
"We are interacting with southern ports, commodity owners and company branches in China, Russia, South Korea, Singapore and India for promoting cargo transportation through the International North-South Transport Corridor and Iran's East-West Transit Corridor to Eurasian countries," Tafti explained.
KSSL Registers 162% Rise in Shipment
Transit of goods by Khazar Sea Shipping Lines increased by 162% in the fiscal 2021-22, thanks to the unwavering support lent by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line.
According to Tafti, the Khazar Sea Shipping Lines, an IRISL subsidiary, now operates weekly container shipping services on the China-Kazakhstan-Iran container route.
“Khazar Sea Shipping Lines has found new transit markets. For example, it carried 3,213 vehicles in the fiscal 2021-22, registering a 346% growth compared with the year before. Container throughput reached 9,389 TEU [twenty-foot equivalent unit] last year, indicating a 63% growth. Bulk and general shipping also increased by 21% to reach 1.16 million tons,” he was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.
Noting that the company has expanded its services to the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, India and Pakistan, Tafti said, “Khazar Sea Shipping Lines now accounts for 32.5% of Caspian Sea shipping market [2.3% growth in its share of the market was registered in 2021-22) and the operating income of the company increased by 53% in 2021-22 compared with the year before.”
