The first transit shipment under eTIR carnet (TIR Convention) has been successfully accomplished along the International North-South Transportation Corridor, an Iranian customs official has announced.
“The transit shipment included industrial alcohol weighing 21,970 kg worth $82,000. It was declared at the customs terminal at Shahid Rajaee Port [in the south] by India and sent in one container to Russia from Astara customs terminal [in the north],” Hossein Saeedi, a Shahid Rajaee Port’s customs official, was quoted as saying by IRIB News.
Shahid Rajaee is Iran’s biggest container port.
“Transit documents and carnets used to be sent manually to the customs and transportation companies, which process used to take two to three weeks. But now all documents are being sent to customs online in one day and as soon as possible. Electronic TIR procedure will ease transit procedures, help the development of the north-south corridor and facilitate the electronic exchange of information between countries and trade,” he added.
eTIR system allows the two countries to have access to all related information at any time and view the information of cargo before delivery, which is useful for both sides and lowers the risk of deception, accelerates customs formalities and reduces costs. TIR Convention is a multilateral treaty concluded in Geneva, Switzerland, on Nov. 14, 1975, to simplify and harmonize the administrative formalities of international road transportation.
“So far, no TIR carnet project has been carried out by two companies,” said Behnam Faramarzian, the head of international transportation and TIR Carnet Department of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, Otaghiranonline reported.
“Generally, only one company conducts TIR carnet projects. The transfer of goods from India to Russia via Iran was carried out by two companies, one Indian and the other Iranian. This method accelerates customs procedures and the time needed to transfer goods from the origin to the destination.”
According to the official, the pilot project has been successful and if it produces desirable results, it can help increase transit through Iran.
“Iran has the necessary infrastructure to implement this project. We are ready to carry out this project again if other countries are willing to cooperate and have the needed equipment,” he said.
INSTC is a major transit route designed to facilitate the transportation of goods from Mumbai in India to Helsinki in Finland, using Iranian ports and railroads, which the Islamic Republic plans to connect to those of Azerbaijan and Russia.
The corridor, which will connect Iran with Russia’s Baltic ports and give Russia rail connectivity to both the Persian Gulf and the Indian rail network, was high on the agenda of Iran’s Minister of Roads and Urban Development Rostam Qasemi during his recent visit to Moscow.
With the operationalization of the corridor, goods could be carried from Mumbai to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas and further to Baku. They could then pass across the Russian border into Astrakhan before proceeding to Moscow and St. Petersburg, before entering Europe.
INSTC would substantially cut the travel time for everything from Asian consumer goods to Central Eurasia’s natural resources to advanced European exports.
IRISL Subsidiary to Boost Chabahar’s Container Throughput
Valfajr Shipping Company, affiliated with the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line Company, has been tasked with developing Chabahar Port’s containerized activities, the IRISL Group has announced.
IRISL says that consequently, travel time and transportation costs from Iran to Indian ports, member states of the Commonwealth Independent States and Afghanistan are expected to decline.
Container transportation and transit along INSTC by Valfajr will be from start to finish, IRNA reported.
The shipping company’s container activity will be non-profit, but it will be managed in a way that the transportation companies involved would not incur losses either, the report said.
Valfajr Shipping Company plans to use its vessels for container transport and transshipments from Chabahar Port in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan Province to India, Persian Gulf littoral countries and Oman.
IRISL Sets Record
The Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line Group has set a record in goods shipment along the International North-South Transportation Corridor.
IRISL moved 27,500 TEUs weighing 337,000 tons along the corridor over the first four months of the current Iranian year (started March 21), IRNA reported recently.
The report noted that there were only two transit routes defined between the ports of India, the UAE and Russia at the outset of the INSTC project, adding that the number of routes increased to 14 linking different ports of the world over the last two months.
According to IRISL, countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States and Russia are the main transit destinations from the shipping points; the goods will be delivered to the owners from start to finishr, using the group’s facilities.
IRISL says it has focused on the multimodal transportation of goods as one of its main strategies.
A total of 18,462 tons of goods worth $9.6 million were exported from Iran to Russia through a new trial customs corridor, the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration said earlier this month.
“The shipments were transported from Iran to Russia between June 30 and Aug. 22 using 1,199 waybills,” Alireza Moqaddesi was also quoted as saying by ILNA, noting that the project will simplify and facilitate customs procedures.
Exports accounted for 46% and 18.1% of the weight and value of Iran’s total fruit and vegetable exports during the period respectively.
Iran and Russia have agreed on details of their plan to transit 10 million tons of goods along the International North-South Transportation Corridor, the news portal of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development of Iran reported.
