In A First, Iran Ships Russian Goods To India Through New Trade Corridor

The shipment of the Russian cargo comprising of two 40-foot (12.192 metres) containers of wood laminate sheets, weighing 41 tonnes, is expected to take 25 days.

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New Delhi: For the first time, Iran has transported Russian goods to India through a new trade corridor. Iran's state-run shipping company said Russian goods have been transported to India for the first time through a new trade corridor that transits the Islamic Republic, news agency Bloomberg reported, citing an Iranian port official. The Russian cargo comprising two 40-foot (12.192 metres) containers of wood laminate sheets, weighing 41 tonnes, had departed St. Petersburg for the Caspian Sea port city of Astrakhan, state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, noted citing Dariush Jamali, director of a joint-owned Iranian-Russian terminal in Astrakhan.

However, it is not clear when the cargo, which it described as an initial "pilot" transfer to test the corridor, left Russia. 

The cargo will cross the length of the Caspian from Astrakhan to the northern Iranian port of Anzali and will be transferred by road to the southern port of Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf. It will then get loaded onto a ship and sent to the Indian port of Nhava Sheva, IRNA said.

The transfer of goods was being coordinated and managed by the state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines Group and its regional offices in Russia and India. The shipment is expected to take 25 days, the IRNA report said.

Since the West imposed sanctions on Russia sanctioned due to Ukraine's aggression, Iranian officials have been keen to revive a stalled project to develop the so-called North-South Transit Corridor that uses Iran to link Russia to Asian export markets. The plan involves eventually building a railroad line that can transfer goods arriving at Iranian Caspian Sea ports to the southeastern port of Chabahar.