According to Total News, citing Gasht-o-Gozar News, Ahmad Zamaniyan, the Head of Khorasan Razavi International Transport Companies Association, referring to Iran’s location at the transit crossroads of the world, said, Considering Iran’s position in terms of transit and access to open waters and being in the same border with the countries of Central Asia, there is a need to pay more attention to the transit category. In order to solve the obstacles and challenges in this field, cooperation and assistance of all related organizations is needed.
He added, “We are in contact with various organizations to discuss transit, the most important of which is the Road and Customs Organization.” The suggestion given to the related organizations is that all related organizations should be placed under a single window to facilitate and speed up the transfer of goods.
The Head of Transit and Border Transportation Commission of the Chamber of Commerce, Mining Industries of Khorasan Razavi, referring to the consequences of the long transit process of goods, and said, the discussion of goods transit depends on three key factors: speed of goods transfer, cost of transportation, and safety and health of goods. In our country, product safety and health are among the things that are given full attention. In order to improve transit in Iran, it is necessary to pay full attention to two other categories. For example, the standard time for goods transit is between three or four days, but in Iran, due to administrative procedures, this time sometimes takes 20 or 25 days. The consequences of this delay, in addition to the loss of foreign customers, increase the cost of storage and demurrage.
Zamanian considered transportation as the basis of every country’s economy and added, Transportation, especially the transit of goods, in addition to being a job generator, is also an income generator, for this reason, special attention needs to be paid to this category and the existing obstacles in this way should be removed. We should set Turkey as a model country that takes the lead in the transportation industry. In addition to modernizing the road fleet, ease of transit is the main pillar of Turkey’s transportation. For example, a cargo that is sent from China to Kazakhstan and all its documents are available, why should it stay in Iran for 20 days?
Referring to the necessity of 24-hour operation of the country’s border customs, he said, considering the announcement of the readiness of the border customs for 24-hour operation, it has not been operational yet. Proper planning should be done so that the customs service as the economic gatekeeper of the country is done without interruption. In order to adjust the activities of Hormozgan customs to the volume of unloading goods in the ports of this province (Shahid Rajaei and Bandar Abbas), the round-the-clock activity of this customs is one of the obligations.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of International Transport Companies of Khorasan Razavi, considered the need to use hydrogen fuel to be dependent on the modernization of the transport fleet and added, despite our repeated follow-ups in the Chamber’s Transportation Commission, regarding the need to modernize the fleet, unfortunately, this action has not yet been taken. The necessary infrastructure for the use of alternative fuel is the modernization of the fleet. Considering that the average life of our fleet is 30 years, it is not possible to plan for the use of hydrogen fuel.
Referring to currency fluctuations and future problems, Zamaniyan said, Currency instability has irreparable consequences in the field of transportation. For example, the owner of foreign goods requests a price from the international transport company for the transit of the goods through Iran. Colleagues announce the price for a period of one month to 45 days based on the daily dollar rate. As the dollar exchange rate changes, its Rial price changes, this causes the cost of transporting the container to the destination to rise, questioning the credibility of the international shipping company and choosing an alternative route for goods transit. Our proposal to solve this problem in the field of transportation is the stability of the currency for a certain period of time, for example, a period of several months, so that in addition to preserving the credit of the companies with foreign merchants, it prevents the exclusion of Iran for transit routes.
Emphasizing the non-implementation of the legal provision exempting transport companies from added value, he reminded, according to the law approved by the Islamic Council in January 2021, all international transport companies are exempt from paying added value. But the tax is only given to domestic consumers and producers, the sender and receiver of the goods are outside Iran for transportation, and 9% value added tax is not given to it. When the finance department levies taxes on companies and we also naturally include value added on the invoices of foreign merchants, this increases the cost of transportation for merchants.
The Head of Khorasan Razavi International Transport Companies trade association, considered smartness to bring clarity in matters, facilitate access and reduce costs in the field of transportation and said, using smart systems increases the productivity and efficiency of transportation processes.
Referring to the exploitation of the integrated system of goods transportation, he added, this system has been in operation since May of this year with the participation of several organizations, customs, highway and road transport organization, headquarters for combating goods and currency smuggling, and the Ministry of Industry, Mining and trade has been implemented.
Zamanian named the goal of implementing this system to improve and facilitate the administrative process and continued, although the system has been implemented for two years on a trial basis, it still has many problems. The lack of support and complicated administrative processes cause cars to sleep for several days at the borders.
The Head of Khorasan Razavi International Transport Companies Association, pointing to the necessity of having a single management to remove the existing obstacles, and said, in order to solve the existing problems in the field of transportation and border transit, it is necessary that the trustee of the unit be identified as the final decision maker and all organizations should follow him.