TEHRAN – The Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) has assigned 300 containers to transport goods to Russia, making the north-south corridor operational again, Mehr News Agency reported on Monday.

The mentioned containers have been allocated to execute the first phase of a program for transiting Russian commodities to India via the mentioned corridor, the IRISL announced in a statement.

“According to the plans made by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, in the first phase, 300 containers have been considered for transporting cargos to Russia, and if the demand increases, the number of these containers will increase continuously,” the statement said.

As reported, IRISL has entered the operational phase of transporting cargos through the north-south corridor after completing a trial phase in June when commodities were transited from Russia to India and vice versa.

To be transited to India through the north-south corridor, Russian cargos depart St. Petersburg for the Caspian Sea port city of Astrakhan. From Astrakhan, the cargo crosses the length of the Caspian to the northern Iranian port of Anzali and then transferred by road to the southern port of Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf. From there they are loaded onto a ship and sent to the Indian port of Nhava Sheva.

The north-south corridor was launched in the past with the aim of transiting goods between India and Europe through the southern ports of Iran via the Caspian Sea.

Despite the Iranian government’s great emphasis on the necessity of activating this path, it remained in the early stages of execution for many years; But now, due to new conditions and the disconnection of Russia and Europe, this corridor has come under the spotlight once again for the purpose of carrying transit cargos between India and Russia.

EF/MA