India is looking for alternate routes to ship its annual $4.5 billion worth of exports to the Commonwealth of Independent States, bypassing the war-damaged Black Sea route (CIS). India intends to ship cargo to CIS countries such as Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan via Iran’s Chabahar port.
India intends to send cargoes through China’s Yellow Sea port of Qingdao and then by train to CIS destinations, as well as exports through Georgia’s port. Indian exports to the CIS countries have been steadily increasing in recent years, with a year-on-year increase of 24% in January of this fiscal year. In Chabahar port, India has been developing two terminals, which it would run for 10 years. Thus, officials and traders believe that the port is the best option. The Chabahar port was on Indian focus for a long period to ship its merchandise to CIS bypassing China and Europe as it would help New Delhi to cut its logistics cost by a fifth in container transportation.
