India’s fifth consignment of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan has arrived in Chabahar’s Shahid Beheshti Port, said the director-general of Sistan and Baluchestan Ports and Maritime Department.
Behrouz Aghaei said on Monday that the fifths vessel, carrying 300 containers of wheat, weighing 7,500 tons, has docked at the southeastern Iranian port and is ready to unload the Afghanistan-bound cargo.
He noted that the previous four ships arrived at the strategic port of Chabahar early spring, despite the coronavirus pandemic, to help transport the humanitarian cargo to Afghanistan.
Aghaei noted that some 14 vessels carrying Indian cargo to Afghanistan have so far arrived in Chabahar in the past two years.
“Each vessel, carrying 10,000 to 15,000 tons of goods, arrived in Chabahar Port, cargoes of which have been transported to neighboring Afghanistan via trucks.”
Chabahar Port has a good and suitable situation for transporting, transiting and transshipping [maritime transport] of goods to the Central Asian countries and Afghanistan, he said, adding, “with the coordination made in this regard, all 75,000 tons of wheat, donated by India to Afghanistan, will be transited to this country via Milak Border in Zabol.”
Transit of goods inside and outside the country will play a very important role in the economic prosperity of this southern province, Aghaei emphasized.
This unique advantage and capability of Chabahar Port in the field of transit has made this port as one of the prosperous and lucrative ports in the country which could play a very important role in regional bond, he stressed.
Despite the existence of two ports of Shahid Beheshti and Shahid Kalantari, suitable ways have been provided for mooring, loading and unloading cargoes of oceangoing ships as well as the prosperity of transit and exports in the southeast part of the country, he added.
He pointed out that Chabahar Port is considered as a golden opportunity for Afghanistan in the field of exporting and transiting goods, adding, “development of trade, economic and trade relations between nations is one of the main objectives behind construction of Shahid Beheshti Port in Chabahar.”
