Three countries mull creation of logistics operator of INSTC

The Russian Railways JSC is discussing creation of a logistics operator of the International NorthSouth Transport Corridor (INSTC) with Iran, India and Azerbaijan.

Alexander Misharin, first deputy chief executive officer of Russian Railways, told reporters on the sidelines of the “Trans Russia” international exhibition for transport and logistics services and technologies, Russian media reported.

“Currently, we discuss the options for creating such an operator [NorthSouth corridor], which was presented during the Russia-Iran intergovernmental commission, which we conduct today with our Iranian and Azerbaijani counterparts,” Misharin said.

He also stressed that negotiations with India are underway.

The agreement establishing the North-South corridor was signed in September 2000, and entered into force on May16, 2002.

Compared with the current means of transporting goods from South Asia to Europe, the (INSTC) offers several advantages, the main one being that it is much faster. While transport by sea from Mumbai to St. Petersburg requires almost six weeks, it takes only three weeks via the ITC – as the first freight test run this October showed.

The International North–South Transport Corridor is a 7,200-kmlong multi-mode network of ship, rail, and roadroute for moving freight between India, Russia, Iran, Europe and Central Asia.

The corridor is planned to transport 6 million tons of cargo per year at the initial stage and more than 10 million tons of cargo in the future.