Container freight costs from China to Iran multiply as a $3,000 sea container reaches $12,000 by road

The newspaper Donya-e-Eqtesad reported in its edition of Monday 3 August 2026 (12 Mordad 1405) that tighter maritime restrictions and forced rerouting of trade have raised the cost of shipping goods to Iran to between four and seven times previous levels, depending on the goods and the route.

Ali Emami, director general of the logistics and support office at Iran's Trade Promotion Organization, told the paper that by weight about 73 percent of the country's exports and 79 percent of its imports went by sea last year. He said a container previously shipped from China by sea for about $3,000 now costs roughly $12,000 by road and about $9,500 by rail. Emami added that despite these pressures, a complete blockade of Iran's foreign trade is not possible given the country's roughly 8,000 kilometres of borders, and that trade will continue at higher cost and difficulty.

Mojtaba Baharvand, a logistics industry figure, said higher risk has added between $1,500 and $3,000 to the cost of each container depending on the cargo and container type, and that total port costs at Bandar Abbas per shipment have reached about 50 to 60 million tomans, an increase of 50 to 100 percent. He said some vessels are discharging at Karachi in Pakistan or Mersin in Turkiye instead of Iranian ports, and that alternative routes lack capacity: a typical ship carries 1,500 to 3,000 containers, while on the rail corridor only one train runs every two to three days.