TEHRAN - A senior Iranian customs official has said a first-ever transit cargo passing through the so-called International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) has entered Iran from Finland to be transferred to India, IRNA reported.

Karim Rasouli, who is the head of Astara customs office in northern Iran, said the consignment, which arrived in Astara on Tuesday, includes 563 tons of paper worth 535,000 euros, and its customs clearance procedures were carried out in the shortest time so that the goods could be transported to Rasht by trucks.

According to the official, the Astara railway has not been connected to Rasht railway yet, and now the goods are sent to Rasht by combined transportation using trucks.

After the completion of the north-south railway corridor, the goods will be transported by train, he added.

The paper shipment will be transshipped from Rasht to Bandar Abbas and will be loaded for India via Bandar Abbas railway, Rasouli explained.

In early March 2017, Azerbaijan officially launched a rail link with Iran by sending a train across the border to Iran’s northern city of Astara as part of the North-South transport corridor that connects northern Europe to India.

INSTC is a 7,200-km-long multi-mode network of ship, rail, and road routes for moving freight between Iran, India, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asia, and Europe. The route primarily involves moving freight from India, Iran, Azerbaijan, and Russia via ship, rail, and road.

The objective of the corridor is to increase trade connectivity between major cities such as Tehran, Mumbai, Moscow, Baku, Bandar Abbas, Astrakhan, Bandar Anzali, etc.

Earlier this week, Iranian Transport and Urban Development Ministry announced that more than 1,000 kilometers (km) have been added to the country’s transit routes over the past eight years.

Based on the ministry data, the total length of the country’s transit routes reached 25,329 km at the end of the previous Iranian calendar year 1399 (March 20) from the 24,033 km eight years ago.

EF/MA