Iranian River: Moscow and Tehran may start a major infrastructure project

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The Russian media recently discussed news that an experimental caravan of winter merchant ships passed through the Volga-Don Canal. Ice piloting of the ships was carried out with the help of the icebreaker "Kapitan Demidov".

Tellingly, in our country this event was practically ignored. But in the United States sounded a real alarm. However, the Americans have a reason for this.



The thing is that mutual trade between Russia and Iran has been actively growing recently. In this regard, it became necessary to expand the capacity of the existing North-South transport corridor, of which the Volga-Don Canal is a part.

According to the American publication Bloomberg, the Russian Federation intends to invest $1 billion to expand the aforementioned waterway. In particular, a project is underway to deepen the bottom of the almost 500-kilometer section of the Volga from Volgograd to the port in Astrakhan, which will allow maximum loading of container ships. By the way, the construction of the first domestic vessels of this class will begin this year.

Meanwhile, the West is not so much afraid of the possibility of an unhindered bypass economic blockades by Russia and Iran themselves, as well as the prospect of India, Pakistan and other Asian countries joining trade with them.

To do this, Iran will have to ensure the flow of cargo to its southern ports, in connection with which the country's authorities have begun to modernize the railways in this direction.

However, there is another potential transport project, the implementation of which can change the entire existing system of world trade, depriving the United States of one more of its sectors.

We are talking about the project of a 750 km navigable canal (the "Iranian River" - as the project is called in the Islamic Republic), which will connect the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf. It was developed over a century ago. But its implementation is so complicated that no one dared to take on it before.

Now, however, under the yoke of Western sanctions, the likelihood that Russia and Iran will see it through to the end is high. Moreover, other countries of the region interested in trade with the Russian Federation can join them.

According to American analysts, Moscow and Tehran may invest about $25 billion in the project. At the same time, Iran and Russia plan to increase their trade turnover to $40 billion a year, which will allow them to quickly recoup their investments.

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    1. +3
      30 January 2023 17: 00
      We are talking about the project of a 750 km navigable canal (“Iranian River” - this is how the project is called in the Islamic Republic), which will connect the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf.

      Utopia... No, it's not. Fantastic utopia. You look at the landscape in the north of Iran, solid mountains and gorges. There, drivers drive along the mountain serpentine with caution. I still believe (with difficulty) the railway will be built from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf.
      1. +2
        30 January 2023 17: 08
        Quote: Athenogen
        I still believe (with difficulty) the railway will be built from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf

        There are already such on the railway maps.
        As for the channel - even if you do it, you can go broke on the content of the gateways.
        there is a rise up to 1500m, these are 150 locks for the ascent, the same number for the descent, and how many intermediate ones there are.
        Volgodon is only 13 locks, and then it was like a mega-building.
        1. +4
          30 January 2023 17: 16
          Quote from Nelton.
          As for the channel - even if you do it, you can go broke on the content of the gateways.
          there is a rise up to 1500m, these are 150 locks for the ascent, the same number for the descent, and how many intermediate ones there are.

          The only thing is to make a lift (which is also utopian)

          1. +3
            30 January 2023 17: 25
            make a lift (which is also utopian)

            The same as with locks - how much will it cost to lift a barge with a load of 1500m, and then lower it?
            (++ intermediate ascents and descents).

            No, if the Iranians build this happiness with their own money, and set adequate tariffs, then why not. But to invest trillions of Russian funds in the development of a foreign country, which is only now a situational ally?
    2. 0
      30 January 2023 18: 24
      The most interesting thing is that "such" should be carried along this path in the appropriate quantity ????
    3. +1
      30 January 2023 19: 19
      "River" is about the Anglo-Saxons. It is necessary to build a railway line from Dagestan - Azerbaijan - Iran - Afghanistan - Pakistan - India .... in short, to Singapore. Gauge 3040 mm (two Russian), double-track, electrified, with a speed on hauls of at least 120 km/h for freight trains, with one stop at the logistics center of each project participating country and no closer than 100 km from the sea coast. Each participant builds his section at his own expense and sets a fee for transit through it. That would be fair and profitable.
    4. 0
      30 January 2023 23: 11
      Colleagues, did any of you work in the river fleet? Have any of you done the locking? Which of you passed Volgodon, Volgobalt, Belomorkanal??? I have been on these channels, and not as a passenger! Why such pessimism? Yes, we need a lot of money, we need engineering talent, we need qualified personnel. But now the 21st century, politics and economics require their own. And not everything depends on the availability of money. And God help us!
    5. +1
      31 January 2023 11: 06
      During the war, one can only dream of such mega-projects.
      And with our top managers, you should not dream at all.
      Just look at the auto industry.
      1. 0
        31 January 2023 11: 35
        Quote: prior
        Just look at the auto industry.

        The auto industry lacked 5 years of peaceful development in order to localize all critical components.
        SPICs for the localization of automatic transmissions have already been signed ...

        But even in the current scenario, the auto industry is more alive than dead.
        So far, they have quickly reoriented to the production of Chinese models, and the entire localization chain will now be run through the knurled one much faster.
        Recently, Avtotor started production of KAIYI.
        Well, their own models - the same will appear, Sollers is already releasing vehicles under its own nameplate.
        In the segment of LCV, trucks, buses / electric buses - GAZ - KAMAZ is hearty.

        The same is quiet news - the manufacturer of auto components Trialli (Russian company) bought production areas over 7000 sq.m. in St. Petersburg for the expansion of production.
        And they started at one time as ordinary import sellers (since then the name).

        So with our managers, there is just every chance to develop under sanctions.
        1. +2
          1 February 2023 11: 06
          Oleg.
          Sincerely.
          Comment on the article, not my comments.
          I am an old realist. Calls and promises will not take me.
          You are trying to refute my opinion, but only confirm that instead of the Russian car industry, the industrial assembly of Chinese car models is being implemented, no matter how they are called.
          This is not the Russian auto industry, this is a surrogate.
          And you need to call things by their proper names, you will have to be less disappointed later.
          And it is better to return to the topic of the article, to the Caspian-Persian Gulf channel.
          When designing and building, Iran will surely say that it has no money.
          We will pay, we will resist, we will build, and then it will be like with the Nord Stream - useless pipes at the bottom of the sea.
          No money, no gas. And there is no one to complain to.
          The mood and power in Iran will change .... and that's it. Naked Vasya.
          The East, it is so thin that it is too much.
    6. 0
      1 February 2023 12: 46
      There is nothing impossible. I watched the Chinese aqueduct - this is an idea embodied in deed. For some time now we have become afraid to think grandiosely. But in the USSR they were not afraid, and put it into practice. What prevents? In my opinion, money placed in different pockets. From the beginning, we read with rapture about the Northern Sea Route, and then for some reason we forget. According to various construction sites, long-term construction and devouring funds are going on. How to avoid this, I have no idea.
      1. 0
        1 February 2023 16: 03
        Quote from: unc-2
        For some time now we have become afraid to think big. But in the USSR they were not afraid, and they put it into practice. What's stopping

        Nothing interferes.
        The Russian Federation fully implements grandiose bridges, icebreakers, a cosmodrome, skyscrapers, epic gas processing plants and a mining and chemical complex, and is building a collider (in the commissioning stage).
    7. +1
      2 February 2023 16: 18
      For me, in the past, connected with work in the seas and oceans, it is clear that a canal connecting the Caspian Sea and the Indian Ocean is needed. This channel was needed during the Soviet era. Now, when the newly formed states are located on the shores of the Caspian Sea: Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, states, potential enemies of Russia, the channel is not needed, it will be harmful to Russia. In the future, when Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan will be Russia and there will be only two states Russia and Iran on the shores of the Caspian Sea, then a channel will be needed.
      1. 0
        3 February 2023 17: 18
        with all due respect to the Iranian brothers, this channel is comparable to the transportation of dry cargo ships by air in balloons, the mountains are high there and little water falls from the sky, so it is optimal to organize the movement of our dry cargo ships from our navigable rivers to Iranian ports, and that's all, but you can still carry Volgobalt Volgodon Iranian goods if they need it