Iran, Russia augment freight transit through the Caspian Sea

Iran’s Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mehrdad Bazrpash met and conferred with Russia’s State Council Secretary Igor Levitin in Tehran on Saturday to discuss multimodal transport and maritime freight transit through the Caspian Sea.

According to news.mrud.ir, following the two-day visit of, Igor Levitin, who is a also senior aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, to Tehran to meet with senior Iranian officials, including, Bazrpash, the two sides met to discuss development of cooperation between Iran and Russia in all modes of transport, multimodal transport and freight transit through the Caspian Sea.

“Although the history of maritime trade between Iran and Russia has a very long history, using the capacity of active ports of the two countries in the Caspian Sea can be considered in the new cooperation”, said Iranian Minister. 

Bazrpash, pointing to the berthing of large ro-ro Russian cargo ship, Kompozitor Gasanov, at Noshahr Port in northern Iran on May 2, 2022 after about 20 years, called it a giant step for developing bilateral maritime trade. 

Moreover, Iran and Russia's preliminary agreement in shipbuilding as part of the broader plan to expand economic relations on the sidelines of the 25th Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on June 18 and entering transit train of Russia along the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) to Iran from Sarakhs Border on October 2, all promises more effective transport cooperation, he added. 

Referring to the necessity of developing aviation cooperation between the two countries, Bazarpash said: “Expanding transit capacity of maritime routes through the Caspian Sea corridors, including the east and west corridors of the Caspian Sea, can also be effective in reducing heavy land traffic in the Caucasus”.

With completion of 35 kilometers of routes from Rasht to the Caspian Port, which is a sea port located in the Anzali Free Zone, the rail network will connect Anzali Port and the Caspian Port to the southern ports of Iran in the Persian Gulf, especially Bandar Abbas. It will be an important development in multimodal transport with Russian ports in the north of the Caspian Sea, Iran’s minister of roads and urban development added. 

In this meeting, Igor Levitin, summarized the expert meetings and the visit of the Russian delegation to the Rasht-Astara Railway and called for the development of transport cooperation in all modes of transport. 

Previously, the two sides met in January to discuss completion of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC). 

ME