The show of affection between India and the US during President Donald Trump’s visit has not deterred India from taking a step forward in using transport infrastructure to connect with Russia much faster through Iran, a country in spotlight for facing the US sanctions.

Within three months, traders from India and Russia can move goods between the two countries through Iran, said Container Corporation of India (Concor) CMD V Kalyana Rama on Tuesday evening.

This follows a service agreement between Concor and RZD Logistics JSC (subsidiary of Russian Railways) on Tuesday to transport cargo between India and Russia using a single invoice.

The two entities had signed an MoU last year to this effect.

Cutting down on time

The move will benefit exporters and importers between India and Russia by lowering transit time and cost of transportation compared to existing transportation via Suez Canal. The new route will cut time of moving goods sharply (to 25-28 days from about 40 days) as it will avoid the present circuitous sea route through the Suez Canal, and also result in significant cost savings. India’s exporters will soon be informed regarding the exact cost of transportation, said Kalyana Rama. After the agreement, exporters from India can book their goods through a single invoice issued by Concor and exporters from Russia can book their goods using RZD Logistics , said G Ravi Kumar, Executive Director, Concor.

Also, Concor hopes to get favourable terms of operations from Iran’s Chahbahar Port, a port which is managed by Indian management, and is out of the US’ sanction list, Kumar said.

RZD Logistics said that the Indian company (Concor) intends to provide its container fleet and equipment for organising and developing transportation on the North-South international transport corridor, as per the agreement signed by Dmitry Murev, CEO, RZD Logistics, and Sanjay Swarup, Director (International Marketing and Operations), Concor.

“...We have reached an agreement with the Indian side on a number of issues, including the use of Concorequipment, which will undoubtedly accelerate our joint work on organising container transportation at the North-South international transport corridor,” noted Murev of RZD Logistics JSC.

The containers will move between the two countries using the International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC) through Iran and Azerbaijan .

The INSTC project will link India with Russia and East European countries. RZD Logistics JSC is the the largest multimodal logistics operator in the CIS and Baltic countries, and Concor is the largest container train operator in India.

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