By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer

 

The International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) that links Russia and eastern Europe to the Subcontinent, especially India and beyond, through Iran has placed the Islamic Republic in a strategic geopolitical situation.

The 7,200 km INSTC is a multimodal route that includes a railway, roadway network and seaports from Russia’s St. Petersburg to India’s Mumbai via the vital Iranian port of Chabahar.

It greatly reduces the distance, time, and cost of goods for both the exporters and the importers with rich dividends for the land bridge called Iran, which is also the safest, surest, and securest transitory route for the landlocked countries of Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kirghizstan, Kazakhstan, as well as for the Caucasus states of Azerbaijan and Armenia.

This is the reason India has pledged $120 million for the development of Chabahar’s Martyr Beheshti Port terminal and offered a $250 million credit line for infrastructure projects in Iran.

The two countries recently signed a 10-year agreement to enhance their cooperation for Chabahar on the Gulf of Oman.

Without the least doubt, Chabahar in view of its strategic geographical location is a vital gateway for the INSTC corridor, while Bandar Abbas with its fully developed extensive facilities also serves as another gateway.  

Recently, for the first time Russia sent two trains laden with coal to India via Iran. The trains set off from the Kemerovo region. They followed along the eastern branch of the INSTC through Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, from where the destination is India’s Mumbai.

Iranian ports offer financial and operational benefits to the Central Asian and Eurasian Countries located on the eastern and northern sides of the Caspian Sea.

The closest Indian port to Chabahar is Kandla in Gujarat at 550 nautical miles while the distance between Chabahar and Mumbai is 786 nautical miles.

Since 2019, Chabahar has handled container traffic of more than 80,000 TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units) and bulk and general cargo of more than 8 million tonne. 

This year, however, Chabahar Port is all set to handle a substantial volume of cargo, reaching up to 80,000 TEUs and 3 million tonnes in bulk cargo.

The port’s integration with a special free zone augments its appeal, while India’s incentives, such as concessions on vessel-related charges and cargo charges, bolster trade flows through Chabahar, fostering economic growth and cooperation.

To sum up, much to the exasperation of the US and its sanctions-imposing western accomplices against the Free World, the Islamic Republic has much to gain as the vital component of the INSTC.