Bandar Anzali can save time, costs in Belt & Road Initiative

“The most important aspect of China’s Belt and Road Initiative is its land transit but we can play a role in saving time and costs,” Director-General of Gilan Province Ports and Maritime Organization Hamidreza Abaei told Mehr News Agency in an exclusive interview.

“By establishing Ro-Ro vessels, we can potentially transit trucks loaded with Chinese products from Aktau port of Kazakhstan to Bandar Anzali and they can continue the path towards Turkey using high-quality roads of Gilan province,” he added, noting that this can be an alternative path.

Elsewhere, he pointed to the increasing capacities of northern Iranian borders for expanding trade ties with Eurasian countries, as well as playing a role as transit hubs.

“Trade is the most important aspect in relations of Eurasian countries and seaborne trade has a significant share here. Any country that aims to boost its role in Eurasian trade should develop its ports that act for connecting sea to land. Considering the capacity of Iranian ports in the north of the country, Iran is ready to expand trade ties with Eurasia,” Abaei said.

“Ports should have the position and capability to host any type of cargo or ship and fortunately Iranian northern borders, especially those in Gilan Province – Anzali, Astara, and Caspian – are equipped to receive any type of cargo and ship. We should boost the quality of our products so as to export them to regional countries and also, we should expand transit so that other countries would use our capacities for exporting their products to other states.”

Pointing to the inauguration of several projects in Anzali port in mid-November, Abaei noted that these turn Anzali port into a transit hub for different cargos.

During a ceremony with the participation of Road Minister Mohammad Eslami, several projects were inaugurated such as a berth for general cargo and grain, two dolphin-structured berths for oil cargos, a grain depot with a capacity of 50,000 tons, a general cargo warehouse with an area of 4,509 square meters. Also, the ground was broken for a grain depot with a capacity of 30,000 tons and tanks for depositing edible oil with 20,000 tons of capacity.

The official also referred to the opening of the first line of reefer ship from Anzali to Kazakhstan’s Aktau, noting that this could have a crucial role in the transit of cargos.

Considering that Anzali port is one of the hubs of maritime trade in the Caspian Sea, the port enjoys great potential for playing a role in boosting trade between regional states, he said, adding that all businesspersons can use the capabilities of the port to expand their trade.

More than 900,000 tons of cargo has been loaded and unloaded in Anzali port during the past 8 months which shows a 53% increase compared to the same period last year, Abaei said.

Interview by Mohammad Ali Haqshenas

TOP PHOTO: A view of Anzali Port in January 2020 (Danial Ebrahimi/PMO)