MUMBAI: The Federation of Freight Forwarders' Association in India (FFFAI) alongwith Ministry of Commerce is hosting the International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC) conference in Mumbai on 12th June 2015 to create awareness about the huge potential and opportunities in trade between member countries of the INSTC.
Mr. Sailesh Bhatia, Convenor International FFFAI and President AMTOI and Mr. Shankar Shinde, Convenor and Vice Chairman of FFFAI have played a major role in bringing the event to fruitful and successful.
It is the first time that a convention of this scale is being organized where Indian Consulates of all member countries (13 in number) and respective government officials would be present along with the shipping/logistics operators and exporters/importers. The convention would consist of knowledge sessions on the latest developments, B2B sessions, brainstorming sessions.
Over 25 eminents speakers will be addressing their views at the conference on International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC), being organized by the Federation of Freight Forwarders Association in India (FFFAI) alongwith the Ministry of Commerce at the J W Marriot, Mumbai Sahar on June 12, 2015. These includes key policymakers from India and other countries that are part of this important transportation route, as well representatives from shipping intermediaries and the Export-Import trade.
The aim of the conference is to create awareness about the huge potential and opportunities in trade between countries that are part of the INSTC. It is estimated that moving goods along the INSTC would be 30% cheaper and 40% shorter than the current traditional route.
The INSTC is a multimodal transportation corridor that was formalised in September 2000 in St. Petersburg (Russia) by Iran, Russia and India for the purpose of promoting transportation cooperation among the member states. The corridor connects Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea via Iran and is then connected to St. Petersburg and North Europe via the Russian Federation.
The INSTC was subsequently expanded to include 11 new members: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine, Belarus, Oman, Syria and Bulgaria according to information available online.
The successful activation of the corridor will help connect India to Russia within 16-21 days at competitive freight rates leading to development of trade on the INSTC. It is also expected to eliminate usage of reefer containers for agro commodities and support the supplies to Russia and other CIS countries.
Federation of Freight Forwarders Association in India (FFFAI) led by Mr. Shankar Shinde, Vice Chairman, FFFAI and Mr. Sohel Kazani had conducted a successful dry run study on Nhava Sheva Bandar Abbas (Iran) Baku (Azerbaijan) and Nhava Sheva Bandar Abbas (Iran) Amirabad (Iran) Astrakhan (Russia) via Caspian Sea in August 2014.
