Pakistan Fruit Cargo Arrives in Kazakhstan via Iran

Iran has handled a consignment of tangerines from Pakistan to Kazakhstan in an initiative that could open a new corridor for shipment of food from Southeast Asia to markets as far as Russia.

The consignment of 350 tons of tangerines arrived in Iran’s southeastern city of Zahedan by train from Pakistan’s Quetta region and was moved to the port city of Octave in Kazakhstan. It was then loaded on ships going to Russia, Fars News Agency reported on Wednesday.

In April, the first transit consignment from Quetta was sent to Octave through the same route.  It comprised of potatoes, mango, tangerine and rice.

Majid Arjoni, director general of Iran’s Southeast Railway Department says Iran expects to improve its transit trade to one million tons through Zahedan-Quetta railway every year. The railroad is 650km long and it takes about 33 hours for trains to travel between the two cities.

The railroads between Iran and Pakistan are different in terms of track width and infrastructure and transit cargo should move through a trans-ship operation when it reaches the border point between the two neighboring countries.