AidinGlass ships architectural glass by sea to markets that road transport can't reach economically, including India, East and Southern Africa, and the Mediterranean and Western Europe. Ocean freight widens the map, but it also adds steps a land shipment never sees: container loading, port handling, and a longer, multi-leg journey that has to protect fragile cargo the whole way. For deliveries closer to home by road, see our land freight routes.
A sea route is only as good as the port it starts from and the container it travels in. AidinGlass plans each shipment around both: which Iranian port gives the shortest, most direct ocean access to the destination, and how a 22-ton glass load is racked, secured and loaded so it survives a multi-week voyage and several points of handling along the way. land freight routes.
Departure ports in Iran
Bandar Abbas and its Shahid Rajaee terminal are Iran's principal container-export gateway, with ocean access to India, Africa, the Mediterranean and Atlantic Europe through the Strait of Hormuz. It is the port with the deepest service network and the widest range of destinations reachable without a change of region.
Chabahar, on the Gulf of Oman, is a second southern option. It sits outside the Strait of Hormuz and gives direct access to the Arabian Sea, which makes it a useful alternative for India-bound cargo in particular, though service frequency is more limited than Bandar Abbas.
Iran's Caspian ports, including Anzali, Amirabad and Nowshahr, connect to Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. The Caspian is landlocked, with no direct ocean connection, so these ports serve regional and multimodal trade rather than shipments to India, Africa or Western Europe.
Destination regions
Each region is reached through a different combination of ports and transit distance. The ranges below are port-to-port planning estimates; actual routing, carrier and schedule are confirmed for each shipment before booking, since service patterns and transit times can change.
- Western India (Mundra, Kandla, Nhava Sheva) is the shortest ocean route from Iran, which keeps the freight cost per square metre low relative to more distant markets — a strong fit for standard float glass as well as higher-value products.
- East Africa (Mombasa, Dar es Salaam, Djibouti) is reached via the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean, often with a transshipment stop; it is the strongest African starting point for Iranian glass.
- Southern Africa (Durban, Cape Town) and West Africa (Lagos, Tema, Abidjan) are reachable on longer voyages; West Africa in particular suits higher-value tempered, laminated or specialty glass better than basic float glass, where freight weighs more heavily on the landed cost.
- The Mediterranean and Western Europe (Spain, France, Italy, and onward to Northern Europe) are reached via the Red Sea and Suez, or by the longer route around the Cape of Good Hope; Mediterranean ports are generally the more direct and commercially workable option of the two.
Destinations — typical transit times
| Destination | Typical port-to-port transit |
|---|---|
| Western India | 3–10 days |
| Eastern India | 10–22 days |
| East Africa | 10–25 days |
| Southern Africa | 20–40 days |
| West Africa | 30–55 days |
| Spain, France, Italy (Mediterranean) | 18–38 days |
| Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, UK | 28–55 days |
These ranges assume normal service patterns and allow for a transshipment stop where the route requires one. The confirmed schedule, carrier and transit time for a specific shipment are always checked against current routing before a booking is made.
Caspian Sea connections
Anzali, Amirabad and Nowshahr give practical access to regional markets around the Caspian: Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. Because the Caspian has no direct connection to the open ocean, it is used for these regional deliveries rather than as a route toward India, Africa or Western Europe, which are served from Iran's southern ports instead.
Loading a 22-ton shipment into a container
A 22-ton glass shipment generally fits a single full container load, most often a 20-foot standard or a 40-foot high-cube, depending on sheet size and how the load is racked. Weight alone is rarely the limiting factor — the geometry is: a 40-foot high-cube has more internal height and door clearance, which matters for large-format sheets standing upright, while a 20-foot container often works well for smaller, denser packages. Rack height, door clearance and weight distribution are checked against the actual sheet dimensions before a container is confirmed.
Sea freight adds requirements a road shipment doesn't have: moisture protection for a multi-week voyage, certified load securing and rack anchoring built for ocean motion, and a loading plan that minimizes how often the container is opened before it reaches its destination. A Verified Gross Mass is required for every loaded container before it can be loaded onto a vessel, covering the container, the cargo and the securing materials.
Documentation and compliance
Every shipment travels with a complete set of export documentation: commercial invoice and packing list, bill of lading, and certificate of origin, matched to the destination country's import requirements. Float glass is generally classified under tariff heading 7005, with tempered and laminated safety glass under 7007; AidinGlass confirms the correct classification for the specific product before shipping. For destinations in the European Union, this includes confirming the applicable technical conformity documentation for construction glass products. AidinGlass reviews the buyer, destination, port and carrier before a shipment is booked, so documentation, classification and compliance are confirmed before the container leaves the factory.
Safety and careful handling at sea
Glass is fragile cargo on any route, and an ocean voyage adds more time and more handling points than a road shipment. Our process starts the same way it does for every shipment: factory loading onto racks built for the product, with weight distribution and anchoring checked before the container is sealed. From there, the priority is minimizing how many times the container is opened and the load is touched before it reaches the final destination — every additional handling point is a point where damage or injury can happen. Moisture protection and secure anchoring matter more here than on a short road trip, since the cargo has to hold its position through weeks at sea rather than days on a trailer, and a container that is loaded correctly once travels safely without needing to be touched again until it's opened at the destination.
Frequently asked questions
Can 22 tons of glass fit in a single shipping container?
Usually yes. Depending on the glass thickness and sheet dimensions, a 22-ton shipment typically fits a 20-foot standard or 40-foot high-cube container. The exact fit is confirmed against the sheet size, packaging and rack design before the container is booked.
Which destinations does AidinGlass ship to by sea?
India, East and Southern Africa, and the Mediterranean and Western Europe are all served by sea from Iran's southern ports. Each route, port and carrier is confirmed for the specific shipment before booking.
What happens if a glass sheet is too large for a standard container?
Door height and internal clearance are checked against the sheet dimensions in advance. Large-format sheets that don't fit a standard container are placed in a 40-foot high-cube with a rack designed for the specific size, or the shipment is planned around a different sheet size or packing orientation.