A total of 7.03 million tons of foreign goods were transited from Iran during the first half of the current Iranian year (March 21-Sept. 22), registering a 22% rise compared with the similar period of last year, according to the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration.
“Shahrid Rajaee Port in the southern Hormozgan Province with nearly 2.57 million tons registered the highest share of transit volume during the period,” Alireza Moqaddesi was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
Shahid Rajaee is Iran’s biggest commercial port and the Shahid Rajaee Special Economic Zone accounts for the highest share of all goods exported from and imported to Iran.
The economic zone, which has a loading/unloading capacity of 100 million tons per year, accounts for over half of Iran's trade and about two-thirds of total freight transit through the country.
The lion’s share of Iran's containers is handled at Shahid Rajaee Port Complex. With 18 gantry cranes and 40 berths, it is the most advanced container port of Iran.
Launched in 1985, the port has expanded every year and is currently connected to 80 ports worldwide.
The significance of this port lies in its large capacity, including its location in the Persian Gulf, container terminal, fuel bunkering, access to 24 kilometers of railroads and round-the-clock truck transportation.
Shahid Rajaee Port was followed by Bashmaq in western Kurdestan Province with 636,000 tons, Bazargan in West Azarbaijan Province with 632,000 tons, Parvizkhan in Kermanshah Province with 627,000 tons, Bileh Savar in the northwestern Ardabil Province with 384,000 tons, Sarakhs in the northwestern Khorasan Razavi Province with 360,000 tons, Jolfa in East Azarbaijan Province with 332,000 tons, Bandar Lengeh in Hormozgan Province with 245,000 tons, Lotfabad in Khorasan Razavi Province with 204,000 tons and Astara in the northern Gilan Province with 189,000 tons.
The above-mentioned border terminals together, Moqaddesi added, accounted for 6.18 million tons or 87.89% of the total transit volume over the six months under review.
“Among the reasons for the solid rise in transit volume during the period are more active utilization of the International North-South Transportation Corridor, the Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul Corridor’s road and rail routes and the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran’s Transit Corridor, in addition to the implementation of the eTIR international system.”
First Cargo Transit Under eTIR Carnets Along INSTC
The first transit shipment under eTIR carnets (TIR Convention) has been successfully accomplished along the International North-South Transportation Corridor, an Iranian customs official announced.
“The transit shipment included industrial alcohol weighing 21,970 kg and worth $82,000. It was declared to the customs terminal at Shahid Rajaee Port by India and sent via container to Russia from Astara customs terminal,” Hossein Saeedi added.
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. Electronic TIR procedure will facilitate transit procedures, help the development of north-south corridor, electronic exchange of information between countries and trade,” he was quoted as saying by IRIB News.
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 reduces 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 transport.
“So far, no TIR carnets project has been carried out by two companies. 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,” said Behnam Faramarzian, the head of international transportation and TIR Carnet Department of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture.
“This method accelerates the customs process and the time needed to transfer goods from the point of origin to the destination. This pilot project has been successful so far; if it produces desirable results, it can help the development of transit through Iran. Iran has the infrastructure to implement this project. We are ready to carry out this project again, if other countries are willing to cooperate and have the necessary equipment,” he was quoted as saying by Otaghiranonline.ir.
INSTC Gains Momentum
Iran and Russia have agreed on details of their plan to transit 10 million tons of goods along the International North-South Transit Corridor, the news portal of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development of Iran reported.
The agreement was made during a meeting of the two sides’ transportation officials in Moscow on June 28-29.
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 in 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 through the Russian border into Astrakhan before proceeding to Moscow and St. Petersburg, before entering Europe.
INSTC substantially cuts the travel time for everything from Asian consumer goods to Central Eurasia’s natural resources to advanced European exports.
The conflict between Ukraine and Russia, together with Iran’s unique geopolitical location, has boosted this international route.
ECO’s ITI Rail and Road Corridor
A ceremony was held in October last year at Murat Bey Customs Post in Istanbul, Turkey, to mark the arrival of the first two of Pakistan’s National Logistics Company trucks carrying goods from Pakistan to Turkey, via Iran, under the Transports Internationaux Routiers Convention.
The NLC trucks departed from Karachi on Sept. 28 and reached Istanbul on Oct. 7, covering a distance of 5,300 kilometers, Pakistan Observer reported.
The ceremony was attended by senior officials of the Turkish Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, Ministry of Trade, Chamber of Commerce and Commodity Exchanges, as well as the International Road Transport Union, ECO Secretariat and Iran’s Ministry of Roads and Urban Development.
Members and representatives of the Turkish private sector active in transportation sector and representatives of NLC and Pakistan’s Ambassador to Turkey Muhammad Syrus Qazi, accompanied by representatives of Pakistan’s Embassy and Consulate, participated in the ceremony.
Umberto de Pretto, secretary-general of IRU, based in Geneva, also attended the ceremony.
Participants hailed the development as a vital step in promoting connectivity and enhancing trade between Pakistan and Turkey.
Ambassador Qazi highlighted the government of Pakistan’s focus on geoeconomics and how regional connectivity was crucial in this regard.
He hailed the trial run of NLC trucks as a major step that will strengthen road connectivity between Pakistan and Turkey, and also help promote bilateral trade.
The ambassador noted that the operationalization of this road link would help reduce transportation cost and time. Reviving the Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul road transport corridor will generate revenue, boost trade and increase economic cooperation among ECO member states.
After the initial successful run, NLC said it intends to increase and regularize the transport of goods between Pakistan and Turkey, helping bring the two countries closer.
Javad Hedayati, director general of Transit Affairs Bureau of Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization of Iran, says the ITI Corridor can easily replace the Suez Canal route.
“ECO’s ITI transportation corridor holds huge potential. For one thing, transportation time between Istanbul and Pakistan is reduced to 10-12 days from 25-30 days [through the Suez Canal]. Moreover, the corridor reduces transportation costs by 30%,” he was quoted as saying by the news portal of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development.
According to the official, transportation costs rose dramatically in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“This has made road freight transport even more cost-effective. Today, there is a great opportunity for us to use our transit corridors, ITI in particular, to their full potential,” Hedayati said.
Meanwhile, resuming operations after 10 years, the first Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul train, carrying goods from Pakistan to Turkey via Iran, rolled into the Turkish capital Ankara earlier this year.
The ITI cargo train started its journey from Islamabad on Dec. 21, 2021, and arrived in Ankara after 13 days. Turkey's Transport and Infrastructure Minister Adil Karaismailoglu, Pakistani parliamentarian Makhdoom Zain Hussain Qureshi and Iranian Ambassador to Turkey Mohammad Farazmand attended a ceremony to mark the arrival of the train, Daily Sabah reported.
Departing from Margalla Station in Islamabad, the train embarked on its 5,981-kilometer (3,666-mile) route, arriving in 12 days and 21 hours. The cargo train aims to boost trade among Pakistan, Iran and Turkey. The train had eight loaded wagons, 20 feet (6 meters) in length, each with a capacity of 22 tons.
Karaismailoglu in his speech said the new railroad will offer another option to industrialists and businesspeople on the Pakistan-Iran-Turkey route.
"It will save time and cost compared to sea transportation between Pakistan and Turkey, which takes 35 days, and will lead to the development of trade between the two countries," he said.
"With the Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul train, a new railroad corridor will be provided to our exporters in South Asia, which has the highest population density globally, reaching Pakistan, neighboring India, China, Afghanistan and Iran. In this way, our country will be one step closer to its goals of becoming a bridge and logistics base between Asia and Europe," Karaismailoglu added.
Speaking at the ceremony, Qureshi noted that the ITI train would play an important role in enhancing regional connectivity and promoting economic and commercial activities in the ECO region.
Iran, Pakistan and Turkey established the Regional Cooperation for Development Organization in 1964, renaming it ECO in 1985.
The Pakistani parliamentarian noted that the train would offer Pakistan an opportunity to further increase its exports and strengthen its connectivity with international markets, including in Europe.
"The current government in Pakistan believes in regional connectivity and we feel that to play a role at the national stage, we need to be economically reliable. In order to do that, we need to not only have peace in our region but also increase trade within our neighborhood; and the ITI project will become a friendship project," Qureshi told Anadolu Agency in an interview.
"We get access to the European markets and Turkey gets access to Central Asian states so it is a mutually beneficial arrangement and I hope it will be sustainable and we can grow from it further.”
Ambassador Farazmand in his speech explained that the ITI railroad project was first launched in 2009 under ECO, but remained suspended due to technical issues, restarting a decade later.
“The three countries also plan to launch a passenger train along the same route in the near future,” he said.
The first train from Islamabad to Istanbul was inaugurated on Aug. 14, 2009. Since then, eight trains have been dispatched from Pakistan to Turkey. The country has also dispatched six trains to Pakistan, but the train service was discontinued due to floods in the South Asian nation in 2009.
Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran-Turkey Corridor
The first container train on Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran-Turkey corridor, carrying a sulfur cargo, arrived at Tehran Train Station from Incheh Borun border terminal last month before setting off to Turkey and Europe.
It carried 24 wagons and 48 twenty-foot containers, IRNA reported.
Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has called on his partners in Central Asia to make more active use of the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railroad.
"We encourage our partners to make more active use of the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railroad, the shortest route between East Asia and the Persian Gulf countries," Tokayev was quoted as saying by Interfax at the summit of the heads of the Central Asian countries in Cholpon-Ata.
This new logistical solution makes it possible to cover more than 6,000 km in only 12 days, the president said.
Moreover, the Kazakh seaports of Aktau and Kuryk on the Caspian Sea coast can provide access to the markets of the Middle Eastern and European countries.
Tokayev also said it is necessary to increase the transport connectivity of the region and to consistently improve transit conditions.
Nurlan Sauranbayev, chairman of Kazakhstan National Railways who recently accompanied a high-ranking delegation to Iran, said in a meeting with Miad Salehi, the CEO of the Islamic Republic Railways, that the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding, based on which part of the freight carried along the China-Russia-Europe rail corridor will be redirected through the China-Kazakhstan-Iran-Turkey rail transportation route.
They signed another MoU with the aim of expanding Tehran-Tashkent bilateral rail transportation ties, setting preferential transportation tariffs and helping increase transit through the two countries.
