Ehsan Malekzadeh, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the International Transport Companies Association of Iran, has reported a massive accumulation of the country’s imported goods in regional ports. He stated that approximately 20,000 containers bound for Iran are currently stalled in Pakistani ports, and a stable, low-cost route to transport them into the country has yet to be established.
Speaking to the Mehr News Agency, Malekzadeh pointed to the conditions following the recent war, explaining that a portion of the cargo en route to Iran was offloaded at the nearest safe transit ports due to wartime conditions and in accordance with international maritime transport regulations. According to him, this has left Iranian shipments stranded in ports such as Karachi, Jebel Ali, Khor Fakkan, Jeddah, and several ports in India.
He added that in the case of Pakistan, internal regulations and international restrictions have so far prevented the creation of a safe and clear corridor to transfer this volume of containers to Iran. According to Malekzadeh, while a significant portion of the goods in the UAE was offloaded at Jebel Ali port, restrictions and high costs have barred their direct transfer to Iran; consequently, only a limited number of shipments have entered the country via Oman and Iraq.
