Page 35 - IRANRptApr19

9.1.3 Transport sector news
A second Indian container ship has reportedly docked at Iran’s sole oceanic port of Chabahar, under development as a trade hub in a deal between Tehran and New Delhi that enjoys protection from US sanctions.
Iranian media reported the arrival on February 12.
India and Iran have created a shipping line to help develop the Gulf of Oman port’s processing of imports and exports. Indian goods are to reach as far as Europe after moving along the 7,200-kilometre multimodal International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) which, like the port, is under development.
Behrouz Aghaei, a director general of the Ports and Maritime Organisation (PMO) of Sistan and Baluchistan province, made the announcement that the “Inter Sydney” was the second Indian ship to enter Chabahar.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines has arranged for the ship to sail once every two weeks to the port of Chabahar. Now, the direct export, import and transit of goods from the port of Chabahar has been made possible," the official said.
The INSTC is to connect India to northern Europe via a corridor running through Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia with direct Indian Ocean sea routes between western India and Chabahar forming the first stage of transit. Rail routes running from Iran and through Azerbaijan to Moscow are also to be core features of the INSTC.
Crucially, last November, the US State Department exempted the port project in Chabahar from sanctions in recognition of its importance to landlocked Afghanistan’s growth and development as well as to India’s need to bypass Pakistan to trade with both Afghanistan and Central Asia. In potential trade terms, the project is also seen as very important by Iran’s remote neighbour Turkmenistan.
Chabahar, designated a free trade zone, is seen as India’s direct response to China and Pakistan’s joint investment in the Pakistani Arabian Sea port of Gwadar, located just 80km from the Iranian port. Gwadar is a key element of a corridor linking Pakistan, Afghanistan and China under the huge multi-continental Belt and Road infrastructure project.
Iran has become able to buy planes via “a special financial channel” and “very good ones” too, Iranian Minister for Roads and Urban Development Mohammad Eslami was reported as saying by Mehr News Agency on February 13.
Offering scant detail, Eslami said flagship carrier IranAir developed the channel and was in the process of acquiring “new” aircraft.
Together, IranAir and other Iranian airlines have in the past year seen orders for hundreds of new and nearly-new planes shelved by manufacturers including Boeing and Airbus. The reintroduction of heavy US sanctions targeted at Tehran caused the aircraft producers to back away from supplying Iran. Non-US plane makers, such as Airbus, are subject to the threat of secondary sanctions because their planes contain major components supplied by US companies.
Facing the question as to whether the planes being bought were brand new, Eslami reportedly responded that "new or used does not make sense in aircraft purchases; they are very good planes, nonetheless".
The last delivery of new planes to Iran was ATR’s dispatching of 13 turbo-prop regional airliners to Iran before sanctions reimposed by the US kicked in last
35 IRAN Country Report April 2019 www.intellinews.com