Chabahar Port

Located in southeastern Iran on the Makran coast of Sistan and Baluchistan Province, next to the Gulf of Oman, Chabahar is Iran’s only port with a direct access to the Indian Ocean. A former port named Tis in Chabahar’s neighbourhood dates back to 2500 BC, and was known during Alexander the Great’s conquests. The Portuguese forces under Afonso de Albuquerque gained control of Chabahar and Tis and retained hold till 1621. Modern Chabahar dates back to around 1970, when it was declared a municipality, and large port projects were started by order of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran as he wished to turn it into a massive naval base. His dismissal in the Iranian Revolution stalled the ambitious projects. Chabahar came into its own during the Iran-Iraq War(1980-1988) when transactions through the Strait of Hormuz had become precarious and ships were unable to enter the Persian Gulf, thus leading to its rise as a major port of Iran with profound international logistical and strategic value. Chabahar consists of two separate ports namely Shahid Kalantari and Shahid Behesti, each of which has five berths. Since 1992, Chabahar Free Trade Industrial Zone(CEZ)has developed thus giving added fillip to national and international trade and commerce.
Its proximity to Afghanistan and Central Asian countries of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan makes it a ‘golden gate’ to those land-locked countries. Chabahar’s geopolitical significance to India is also immense as the port makes it possible for India to bypass Pakistan while trading with Afghanistan and Indian accent is on developing a viable sea-land transit route to Afghanistan and Central Asia via Chabahar. In 2016 India signed a deal with Iran entailing Indian investment of $8 billion in the Chabahar port and industries. In the crucial International “North-South Transport Corridor” Agreement of which both India and Iran are initial signatories along with Russia where the prime objective is to increase trade connectivity between major cities such as Mumbai, Moscow, Tehran, Baku, Astrakhan etc, Chabahar is slated to play a key role.