Iran Prepared to Cooperate in Makhachkala Port Development

Last week, a meeting between the deputy chairman of the government of Dagestan and the minister of industry and trade of Dagestan, on the one hand, and the chairman of the Union of Iranian Entrepreneurs and the Advisor to the Minister of industry, mines and trade of the Islamic Republic of Iran, on the other, was held. 
The parties discussed prospects of cooperation in the framework of the international North-South transport corridor, options for cooperation in agricultural and industrial projects, and possible cooperation in developing Makhachkala Commercial Sea Port, the Government of Dagestan press office reported.
“Makhachkala is a strategic link between the transport network of Russia and Central Asia, Transcaucasia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and other Caspian countries, and one of the most important parts of the major transport hub in South Russia. Makhachkala Commercial Sea Port serves mainly the trade with the Islamic Republic of Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. The port has a dry cargo area with a 3.1 million tons per annum terminal and a 7.9 million tons per annum oil terminal,” Rizvan Gazimagomedov, Deputy Chairman of the Government of Dagestan, said.
According to the Government of Dagestan press office, Iran is prepared to cooperate on modernization the port of Makhachkala. “Iran has opportunities to carry out dredging in the port basin in Dagestan, with necessary investment, equipment and qualified specialists available,” the Government of Dagestan press office quotes Yahya Khalad, Chairman of the Union of Iranian Entrepreneurs, as saying, Sea News reported.

Makhachkala Port Ships Fertilizers to Iran

Makhachkala's Commercial Sea Port company has shipped fertilizers to Iran for the first time, the port's press service said earlier this month.
The first vessel carrying export agricultural products left the port on Tuesday, Interfax reported, adding that the Caspian Aryana dry cargo ship was heading to Iran.
"The vessel is carrying more than 3,000 ton of export cargo. The potassium chloride was transshipped at the dry-cargo harbor terminals. In the near future another 8,000 tons of fertilizers will be shipped to Iranian consignees," the port's acting general director, Rustam Kerimov, said in a statement.
The CEO noted that the port would continue to expand economic contacts with businesses from Asian countries. "Since the beginning of this year, in particular, over 130,000 tons of cement have been shipped from Iran to Dagestan by sea. Moreover, Russian entrepreneurs have shipped more than 150,000 tons of grain to Iran. By the end of 2022, the port staff expects to substantially increase the volume of export and import shipments," Kerimov said.
The port is currently increasing its fleet, he said.
As previously reported, the total volume of dry cargo shipments in the port soared 1.8 times over nine months. More than 320,000 ton of cement, grain, clinker, metal, salt, and other dry cargoes were processed in that period.
The Makhachkala Commercial Sea Port is comprised of facilities for shipping dry cargo with a capacity of three million ton a year, light and dark petroleum products (7.9 million tons), moors for general and bulk-loaded cargo and containers (1.2 million tons), rail and ferry terminals (1.3 million tons), and a grain terminal (0.5 million tons). Navigation in the Makhachkala port is possible all year round, and it can receive vessels that are up to 150 meters long and whose drafts are up to 4.5 meters.

Boost in Caspian Shipping

Khazar Sea Shipping Lines (KSSL), a subsidiary of state-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, announced recently that container transit shipping lines have been launched between the ports of northern Iran and Russia’s Makhachkala Port.
It will from now on transport 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 Caspian Sea shores, the access route to which is not severed in winter by frozen waters.
Transporting containers from Iran to Moscow via this port is 30% more efficient in terms of 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 located along the shore of 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. 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 transport 200,000 tons of cargo per year 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 companies in China, Russia, South Korea, Singapore and India for promoting cargo transportation through the International North-South Transportation Corridor and Iran's East-West Transit Corridor to Eurasian countries," Tafti explained.