Improving Transnational Transport Corridors
In the OIC Member Countries: Concepts and Cases
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4.7.8. Environmental and Energy Factors
As many other transport corridors, environmental issues are not prioritized in the
development of INSTC. However, the INSTC secretariat does recognize the importance of
promoting the use of rail transport to be an alternative mode to road transport. According to
(Mohammadi, 2017), long haul transport is more economical with rail transport, while road
transport is more economical for 700-800 km of transit (depending on the infrastructure).
(Malekan, 2017) indicated that each rail freight wagon can carry around 65 tons of cargo,
which equals to 3 trucks. Each freight wagon on rail can therefore reduce 3 trucks on the road,
which results in safer roads and less CO2-emissions due to less use of fossil fuels.
4.7.9. Corridor Performance Monitoring
Considering the continuous efforts of the INSTC secretariat to increase the traffic volume on
this corridor, a systematic collection of corridor performance monitoring data is not yet
prioritized. For the future, setting up permanent classified traffic counting stations would be a
good project in which to invest. Of high relevance is the routine collection of border crossing
data from truckers and its centralized analysis for the entire route.
4.7.10. Conclusion
Even though it has been established more than 15 years ago, the INSTC is still in the
development phase and has not met the set objective to promote intra trade along the
corridor. The following features are characterizing this corridor:
1. Apart from the missing links that currently exist along the corridor, INSTC offers good
infrastructures, high safety and security, and efficient custom procedures.
2. The main challenge faced by the INSTC is to improve the attractiveness of the corridor in
order to increase the trade volume passing through the corridor. Trade between corridor
economies is also very low.
3. Compared to the traditional route, INSTC offers shorter routes but higher costs due to
inefficient intermodal transfers.
4. The capacity building of the INSTC secretariat is very limited due to the absence of
membership fees to finance its work.
4.7.11. Recommendation
In order to improve the performance of INSTC, the following actions are recommended:
1. Strengthening the capacity building and institutional frameworks of the INSTC
secretariat. When this is achieved, the Secretariat can fulfill its role to be the driving
force of political initiatives among the member states to advance regionalization. As a
start, an annual membership fee needs to be determined.
2. Increasing the efficiency of intermodal transfers at the Iranian ports, the Port of Baku
and Astarakhan.