(2011)
People • In 2011, some 27 million travelers and businessmen passed custom departments. • Over five million passengers have been transported via border points mainly
Mehran and
Bazargan. • In 2002, about 70% of
visitors arrived by land, about 29% by air and less than 1% by sea • In 2009, the value of goods transited was about $25 billion. This figure constitutes 7% of the GDP. • From March 22, 2009 until September 22, 2009 over 3 million tons of goods worth some $11.3 billion were transited through Iran. Regarding the countries of origin,
China was first in terms of volume,
Turkmenistan ranked second,
Uzbekistan came third,
Turkey fourth, and the
United Arab Emirates fifth. Among the destinations,
Afghanistan was first,
Iraq second,
Azerbaijan third, the UAE fourth, and Turkmenistan ranked fifth. • Some 33 million tons of goods and 29 million passengers are transported annually by the rail transportation network, accounting for 9% and 11% of the whole transportations in the country (2011). • Per capita parcel post for each Iranian stands at 15 per annum (2008). • One million tons of commodities, fuel and barter have been transited abroad per month (2008). • Fuel is transported in Iran by road tankers, tank wagons, tanker ships as well as through pipelines. Nearly 10,000 tankers from 400 private sector companies transport fuel by road. In 2013, nearly 87 billion liters of fuel were transported by Iranian tankers. Iran's tank wagons and ships transported 3 billion liters and 8 billion liters of fuel, respectively. • 3.498 million tons of non-oil commodities were transited abroad via Iran during March 20-November 20, 2008 (79% of the commodities were transited by road).
Mode of transport • More than 90% of the country's imports and exports, particularly in the fisheries and oil sectors, are undertaken through the sea (2009). • In 2008, 84% of the transited goods through Iran were transported through roads while the rest was transported via railroad.
Port of entry • In 2011,
Bandar Abbas was the country's most active border in terms of transit (37%), followed by
Parvizkhan (17%),
Bazargan (9%) and Bashmaq (7%). • In 2008, some 24 border crossings except Kileh in Sardasht (West Azarbaijan) and Yazdan in Southern Khorasan were active nationwide. Bandar Abbas, contributing 40.8% of transit operations, was considered the most dynamic in terms of transiting cargo. It was followed by Bazargan (16.6%), Sarakhs (14.1%), Bandar Anzali (9.2%) and Pileh-Savar (3.9%).
Economics • Every ton of transit cargo earns $150 for the country and creates 40 jobs. Iran will earn a revenue of US$12 billion when the volume of goods transported through the country reaches 40 million tons annually.
TRACECA In September 2009, Iran formally joined the Transport Corridor Europe – Caucasus – Asia (
TRACECA) programme, also known as the "new
Silk Road." TRACECA was founded in 1998 with the aim of promoting economic relations, trade and transport communications between Europe, the Caucasus and Asia. This programme consists of the EU and 14 member states (including Iran) from Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. Iran's strategic location means that it is a key transport corridor between Europe and Central Asia. In August 2010, Iran declared that it "did not sign on to TRACECA project" and said it has been fostering improved transport links through a series of bilateral agreements with neighboring states instead. According to Iran's first Vice-President
Mohammad-Reza Rahimi "If all the potential of the country's transit sector is tapped, it can bring in as much revenues as Petroleum industry in Iran|[the] oil [industry]". He also announced that Iran will join China and Europe by rail in the near future. == See also ==