Indian Wheat Cargo Heading Afghanistan Arrives at Chabahar Port
Indian Wheat Cargo Heading Afghanistan Arrives at Chabahar Port
India’s eighth vessel carrying wheat cargo to Afghanistan has been berthed at Chabahar’s Shahid Beheshti Port, southeastern Iran.

TEHRAN (Iran News) – The eighth Indian vessel carrying wheat cargo to Afghanistan has been berthed at Chabahar’s Shahid Beheshti Port, southeastern Iran, said the managing director of Sistan and Balouchestan Ports and Maritime Organization said.

Having a capacity of 351 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), the vessel is loaded with 8,097 tons of wheat, added Behrouz Aqaei, according to Fars News Agency.

He noted that the cargo will soon be transferred to Afghanistan via a land border crossing.

“The shipment is part of India’s new round of humanitarian aid, weighing a total of 75,000 tons, to Afghanistan,” the official added.

Aqaei said the Iranian port has handled over 53,000 tons of India’s wheat cargoes destined for Afghanistan since the beginning of the current calendar year (March 20).

On August 5, the official announced that Iran signed an MoU with Afghanistan’s private sector on goods transit via the Chabahar port.

He added given the good neighborliness between the two countries, the MoU was signed to develop the Afghan private sector’s transit and investment activities in the fields of transportation, attraction of investors and logistics within the framework of Iran’s rules and regulations.

Under the MoU, the Afghan private sector has been assigned to transfer the country’s goods to target markets via Shahid Beheshti Port, the official noted.

Transit cooperation between the Chabahar port and Afghanistan has been expanded significantly in recent years, he said.

Aqaei added four ships carrying Afghanistan’s cargoes, including nuts, were earlier sent to India and China via Shahid Beheshti Port.

The strategic port of Chabahar is the only oceanic port on the Makran coast in southeastern Iran and has a special status in the country’s economic affairs.

Chabahar has two separate ports named Shahid Kalantari and Shahid Beheshti, each having five berths.

Iran has handed over the development project of this port to India, which has allocated $500 million to build two new berths in this port.

India has doubled the fund allocated for the development of the port in its national budget bill for 2020.

  • source : Iran Daily