International Road Transport Union (IRU) Secretary General Umberto de Pretto has stressed the key role of the port city of Bandar Abbas in southern Iran as “a transit hub in the region”, noting that “around 70% of Iran’s imports, exports and transit pass through Bandar Abbas.”
“This figure demonstrates clearly and powerfully why we all need to focus on facilitating transport and transit via Bandar Abbas.” De Pretto said in a recently released video.
He said that opening a new TIR office in Bandar Abbas is the first step towards this subjective.
The official congratulated Iran Chamber of Commerce and Iranian road transport industry on this achievement.
Noting that today the ECO region is a key and flourishing player in the TIR system, he said that Iran has been the biggest issuer of TIR carnets in the world over the past two years followed by Turkey and Uzbekistan.
Despite the COVID pandemic and the war in Ukraine which threatened the supply chain and logistics, Iran has even activated new corridors such as the International North-South Transit Corridor (INSTC) and ITI corridors, de Pretto said.
“In 2021, Iran’s transit increased by 68% which shows that despite all the challenges, Iran’s role to transit hub is on the rise,” he said, while noting that “We should not stop here. There is always room for improvement. Iran’s transit potential has yet to be fully unleashed.”
“We all need to work together to reach the target of 15 million tons of transit through the INSTC corridor in 2023.”
He also hailed the completion of a digital TIR pilot cooperation between Iran and India in late 2022 which he said successfully tested the first digital intermodal container transit under TIR. He appreciated the support provided by Iran customs Administration and Iran Chamber of Commerce to make this happen.
“I’m pleased to see that ICCIMA is in close cooperation with the customs to further grow the potential of TIR for transport crossing Iran as well as inbound movements.”
He said that IRU is ready to provide any technical support needed to establish cooperation between port and customs authorities to implement TIR.