RLL Container Report - 08 March 2017
From: John Keir, Ross Learmont Ltd. Email: john.keir@telia.com Date: 08 March 2017
Iran rolls out the Persian carpet.
In the past two years, Iranian engineers have been restoring rail connections with its various neighbours. Pakistan resurrected the rail connection via its border station at Quetta with the neighbouring Iranian town of Zahedan. The train carried mainly cement, a commodity which is in great demand as Iran opens up its economy. There is also talk of connecting Pakistan’s proposed super port at Gwadar with the Iranian port of Chabahar. Just to the north of Zahedan lies Iran’s border with Afghanistan, where the two countries plan to construct a double-track line connecting Khaf in Iran with Herat, the third largest city in Afghanistan. The new line is scheduled to open next year but already Iranian engineers have laid their track right up to the Afghan border. According to estimates, the new line will triple the volume of trade between the two countries.
In the final weeks of 2016, Mr Rohani, the President of Iran, visited his counterpart in Kazakhstan to sign an agreement between Iran Shipping Lines and Kazakh railways. Like all the other republics in Central Asia, Kazakhstan fully appreciates the value of co-operating with Iran on transport matters and, in particular, the logistical value of its main port of the Persian Gulf, Bandar Abbas. The two presidents agreed to construct a jointly-owned terminal, which should open in the fourth quarter of the current year and will form the basis of an important intermodal operation in the region. In addition to the port facilities, IRISL will soon be able to offer Kazakh exporters a far larger number of slots on its new 14,500 teu vessels, when they are delivered later this year from the Chinese yards. For their part, the Kazakhs are keen to supply Iran with modern passenger trains, similar to those already operating in Central Asia.
On the 3rd of December 2016, representatives of Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Iran inaugurated the final stage of the north-south rail corridor connecting Iran with Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. The celebrations took place at Incheh Borun on the border between Turkmenistan and Iran, which acts as the terminus for the 925-km broad-gauge line. The route, which has been under construction for eight years, opens up a direct rail connection through the three countries to the east of the Caspian Sea. Most of the route is 1520 mm gauge, with a break of gauge at Iran’s border with Turkmenistan.
This upgraded corridor also gives Iran access to markets in China, as well as the large industrial cities of Siberia. Chinese manufacturers of consumer goods will have a far better access to a market of 77 million inhabitants, the largest on the Persian Gulf. However, manufacturers in Siberia as well as Central Asia will view the rail connection as an ideal opportunity to export their products, while at the same time taking advantage of the all products that Iran has to offer. Horticultural products from Iran’s arable lands around the Caspian Sea will be welcomed by consumers in the industrial cities of the North, especially during the long winter months. It is some 5,000 km from the Iranian capital to Siberia, which translates theoretically into a six-day transit time for refrigerated containers. On the return journey, the same reefer containers can be used to transport Russian paper products to Iran.
John Keir, Ross Learmont Ltd.
08 March 2017
Copyright ©, 2017, John Keir