BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 3. Iran’s transit cargo volume increased by nearly 20 percent in the first eight months of the current Iranian year (March 21 through November 21, 2023), compared to the same period last year, Trend reports.
As indicated in the data from the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), the total amount of cargo that passed through Iran’s land, sea, and air routes was about 11 million tons, of which 9.67 million tons went through Iran’s ten customs.
The majority of the transit cargo, about 9.5 million tons, was transported by road and rail.
Iran is located on several international transit corridors, such as the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) and the East-West Corridor, but it lacks adequate infrastructure to support them. This makes Iran an unreliable option for international cargo companies. Moreover, Iran faces many international sanctions that discourage cargo transit through Iran.
Iran has 2,793 km of controlled-access highways, 45,170 km of highways, and freeways, and 14,984 km of railway lines. There are 978 locomotives, 29,305 freight wagons, and 2,153 passenger wagons operating on Iran’s railways.
In the previous Iranian year (March 21, 2022 through March 20, 2023), Iran transited more than 12.9 million tons of cargo, which was a 2.2 percent increase from the year before (March 21, 2021 through March 20, 2022).
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