Iran increasing shipping lines from Chabahar to int’l ports: MP
By Sadeq Dehqan & Reza Abesh Ahmadlou
Staff writers
Iran has plans for the development of direct shipping lines between Chabahar port in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan and other international ports, announced an MP.
Talking to Iran Daily, Moeinoddin Saeidi explained that such measures will lead to an increase in the volume of trade through Chabahar port, but we have a long way to go in using the main capacities of the port.
“In the recent two years, the Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran has taken a good step in the development of direct shipping lines with other countries, as during this period, a regular shipping line between Iran and India and a direct shipping line from China to Chabahar have been launched.”
He pointed to the Rimdan border, between Iran and Pakistan, which has been activated recently, saying that Rimdan can boost Iran’s trade along with forming a commercial corridor in the region.
Talking about a sea-based economy, the lawmaker noted that it was expected to witness more planning on exploiting the capacity of ports.
The economy of countries that have access to oceans and seas mostly depends on sea-oriented economic issues, he said, adding that in our country we could not use the capacity properly because the process of developing ports and increasing their capacities progress at a low speed.
“If the process of developing ports and using the country’s transit capacities does not speed up, we will lag behind in the field of competition with neighboring countries, as we will suffer losses.”
Chabahar port enjoys a very high transit capacity, but so far it has not been fully activated, and despite the emphasis of the Leader on the development of the Makran coast, we see that the economic capacities of the port, whether in terms of transit, logistics, tourism and agriculture, have not been used completely.
Chabahar is the only oceanic port of the country, and the closest way for Iran and Central Asian states to access other international ports, the lawmaker said, noting that some incorrect approaches have prevented the increase of the capacity of Chabahar port in terms of transit.
Some approaches have caused us to not be able to use these capacities well. Better government policies are needed, so that our people can benefit from the unique capacities of the Makran coast.
Due to sanctions, we could not attract foreign investment in our ports, the MP said, pointing to India’s investment in Chabahar port, which despite the news about New Delhi’s big investment in Chabahar, only about $20 million have been invested by Indians in the port.
In terms of attracting foreign investment, we should not limit ourselves to one or two countries, the MP concluded.