TEHRAN - The Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) has ordered Russia to build a ship for use in the Solyanka port which the two countries are developing with joint investment.
The contract for the construction of the ship was signed between Iran’s consul general in Astrakhan Mehdi Akuchakian and Russian port officials with the aim of “strengthening the transportation network of the Caspian Sea” and renovating the IRISL fleet, he said.
The ship is of the type capable of carrying all kinds of cargo, he said, indicating that more ship building contracts are in the pipeline.
The signing of the contract is a big step in developing trade and commercial relations between Iran and Russia, he added.
“It will have a positive effect on the reduction of the final price of Iranian and Russian export goods, and as a result, the quality of life of the people of the two countries will increase,” Akuchakian said.
The construction of the ship is another watershed in developing the International North–South Transport Corridor, a 7,200 km multi-mode network of ship, rail, and road route for moving freight between India, Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asia and Europe.
“In line with the development of this very important and vital corridor, it is necessary to provide more ships and strengthen the infrastructure of port services,” Akuchakian said.
The IRISL is investing $10 million in Solyanka port of Russia’s Astrakhan, Iranian media reports have said.
Part of the investment, funded through Russian banking loans, will go to purchasing a vessel with a capacity of 270 containers and overhauling the port’s inner roads and wharfs, Iran’s Labor News Agency ILNA reported in November.
The investment is intended to expand the port’s throughput by 70 percent to 85,000 tonnes per month from 50,000 tonnes per month now, it added.
The past few months have seen an uptick in efforts by Iranian and Russian institutions to improve commercial and economic cooperation.
Acting head of Iran Maritime Industrial Company SADRA, Meysam Rayatazad, said last month that his company had undertaken to repair a Russian bulk carrier damaged by ice in the Volga River. The damaged vessel arrived at SADRA’s Caspian shipyards on December 25.
In June, SADRA delivered the second of four Aframax oil tankers which it is building for Venezuela. The vessel can carry 113,000 tonnes or 750,000 barrels of oil.
Trade between Russia and Iran has surged this year, with turnover exceeding $4 billion over January-October 2022 and is expected to surpass $5 billion by the end of the year, according to Russia’s Federal Customs Service. Russian exports to Iran have so far jumped by 27% versus last year, while imports are up 10%.
The two countries are building a new transcontinental trade route that is beyond the reach of any foreign intervention.
“This is about establishing sanctions–proof supply chains all the way through,” Maria Shagina, an expert on sanctions and Russian foreign policy at the London–based International Institute for Strategic Studies, told the U.S. financial news provider.
Russia is finalizing rules that would give ships from Iran right of passage along inland waterways on the Volga and Don rivers, according to Iran’s Maritime News Agency.
According to Shagina’s estimates, Russia and Iran are investing as much as $25 billion in the inland trade corridor.
The two countries have announced a raft of new business deals that cover goods including turbines, polymers, medical supplies and automotive parts.
Russia, Bloomberg said, needs to compensate for the sudden breakdown of its commercial ties with Europe, which before the Ukraine war was its biggest trade partner, as well as finding workarounds for US and European Union sanctions.