India’s India Ports Global has met with the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) to discuss common strategic goals on the development of the International North-South Transportation Corridor (INSTC).
The INSTC route extends from India’s Western ports at Mumbai and Gujarat via shipping to Iran’s Chabahar port, allowing India to bypass Pakistan. The maritime distance between Mumbai and Chabahar is just 1,437 km, or about four days at sea.
It then transits Iran north-south to the Caspian sea, where goods can then be distributed either east via rail to Afghanistan, and Central Asian markets in Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and through to Uzbekistan, or West via Azerbaijan’s Baku Port to Turkey and onto Europe across the Black Sea. At present the overland route is by road, however Iran is in the process of completing rail connectivity to and from Chabahar.
The meeting was held to discuss mutual logistics issues between India and Chabahar, and included discussions on a Container Construction JV by IRSIL and Indian companies.
Iran also called for the removal of sanctions barriers for Iranian vessels in Indian ports.
India Ports Global Ltd was primarily formed to participate in the Chabahar Port development project with the objective of providing an alternative and reliable access route to land-locked Afghanistan. That remit has now been extended for the INSTC to provide EU-South Asian connectivity as an alternative to the Suez Canal.
Source : Silk Road Briefing
