China to use Iran’s port of Chabahar to transit cargo from Pakistan

Almaty. December 29. Silkroadnews - China intends to use the Iranian port of Chabahr to transit cargo from Pakistan, Tasnim News Agency reports.
“Iran has received a request from China to establish a connection between Pakistan’s Gwadar port - which Chinese companies are developing - and Iran’s southeastern port of Chabahar,” the report says referring to Abdolrahim Kordi, the managing director of Chabahar Free Trade Zone.
According to him, Beijing informed Tehran on its interest in using Chabahar to transit goods from Gwadar to regional and extra-regional destinations.
Kordi stressed, Iran’s Chabahar and Pakistan’s Gwadar are not competitors, but can serve complementing each other in terms of market access opportunities.
Nevertheless, he also added, Chabahar has more opportunities than Gwadar in terms of road and rail connection facilities with key logistics points in Central Asia and Europe.
Iran launched an ambitious project to develop the Chabahar port in 2007 through the investments amounting to $1 billion. The annual cargo turnover of the port has almost tripled and reached 8.5 million tonnes.
It can also accommodate ships with a carrying capacity of up to 100,000 tonnes, which can contribute to the development of the country’s international trading activities.
The overall project of the port development includes four stages, as a result, the total annual cargo capacity is expected to raise to 82 million tonnes.
The development of the Chabahar port is carried out by India. The country allocated $500 million to develop Chabahar located in the Gulf of Oman to join the increasingly important transport corridor for resource-rich regional countries.
Massive investment plans are already being implemented, and the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggests building an extensive network of roads and railways estimated to cost $15 billion.
When the development is completed, Chabahar will connect with the North-South Transportation Corridor, which currently goes from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas in the Persian Gulf to Russia, Eurasia and Europe.