Investigating the role of regional and international markets in attracting road transport in Iran

Transit or transit of goods is one of the most profitable commercial services in the world. In addition to generating income, transit's economic activity generates regional security to attract domestic and foreign investment through employment, increased national security, development and regional development. Therefore, considering the importance of the issue, this study investigates the significant share of road haulage in regional and international markets. For this purpose, the trade process among economic blocks is first studied and then the transit demand in the road transport sector of the country is studied using the gravity model. The results of the study of trade trends between economic and trade blocs between different countries show that there is potential for transit through Iran corridors. The results of model estimation show that the variable of tariff rate is statistically significant and its coefficient is 0.53. in other words, With a one percent increase in tariff rate and shipping time، Transit demand in the country's road transport sector declined by 0.53%. The coefficient of GDP of Turkey, Iraq, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, UAE is 0.36.This shows that transit demand in the Iranian road transport sector increases by 0.36 with a one percent increase in GDP in the countries under study. Also the results of variable geographical distance indicate that there is a negative and significant relationship with the coefficient of -5.27 between the geographical distance of the surveyed countries and transit demand in the country's road transport sector. In addition, the effects of the shocks on the variables under study are examined.