Steel freight rates
Get a freight quote without ringing round the brokers. What it costs to move rebar, beams and sheet from the mill to your yard, built from the official Iranian tonne-kilometre index: rates by route, legal truck capacities, and what freight adds to a landed price.
The tonne-kilometre index
The price quoted in the Iranian steel market is an ex-works price. What you pay is the price at your own gate, and the gap between the two is freight. This page calculates that freight cost for any route at the current published rate.
Iranian road freight is priced off one published number, the tonne-kilometre index. Since 1405/03/15 it stands at 1,668 Toman, and every rate below is built from it.
Formula
fare per tonne = index × distance × distance coefficient
Fares are not linear in distance. A short haul pays a floor, because the real cost is a truck and a driver’s day rather than the kilometres; a long haul is discounted. The coefficient falls from 3.1 at 75 km to 0.93 at 2,000 km.
Legal truck capacities
Order size decides which truck carries the load and what it costs per kilogram. A full trailer is the cheapest case there is; a part load always costs more.
| Khavar light truck | 4 t | 20 t |
|---|---|---|
| 911 medium truck | 6 t | 20 t |
| Single-axle truck | 10 t | 20 t |
| Ten-wheeler | 15 t | 28 t |
| Trailer | 24 t | 44 t |
Rates on the busiest routes
Each route is priced at today’s index. Pick yours.
| Isfahan to Tehran 423 km | 31,959,260 | 1,332 |
|---|---|---|
| Tehran to Isfahan 423 km | 31,959,260 | 1,332 |
| Ahvaz to Tehran 684 km | 43,510,903 | 1,813 |
| Tabriz to Tehran 657 km | 42,338,740 | 1,764 |
| Yazd to Tehran 629 km | 41,090,977 | 1,712 |
| Kerman to Tehran 1002 km | 53,576,600 | 2,232 |
| Mashhad to Tehran 929 km | 51,795,050 | 2,158 |
| Qazvin to Tehran 176 km | 18,585,449 | 774 |
| Saveh to Tehran 149 km | 16,862,660 | 703 |
| Sirjan to Tehran 1002 km | 53,571,568 | 2,232 |
| Neyshabur to Tehran 836 km | 49,115,888 | 2,046 |
| Arak to Tehran 293 km | 25,228,555 | 1,051 |
| Zanjan to Tehran 354 km | 28,672,915 | 1,195 |
| Bandar Abbas to Tehran 1316 km | 63,724,294 | 2,655 |
Freight from each mill
What it costs to move each mill’s output from its own gate to the main consumption centres.
- Mobarakeh Steel Company
- Esfahan Steel Company
- Khuzestan Steel Company
- Kavian Steel
- Arvand Steel
- Rohina Jonoub
- Khorasan Steel Complex (Neyshabur)
- Khayyam Steel Neyshabur
- Bafgh Steel
- Abarkuh Steel Industries
- Sirjan (market label)
- Bardsir Kerman
- Shahroud Steel
- Azerbaijan Steel (Mianeh)
- Zafar Bonab Steel
- Kaveh Tikmeh Dash Steel
- Natanz Steel
- Lenjan
- Kuhpayeh Steel
- Kavir Steel (Kashan)
- Eshtehard Steel Rolling
- Khorramdasht Takestan Steel
- Siadan Abhar Steel
- Hirbod Zarandieh
- Eyvan Gharb Rolling
- Sadid Qom
- Esfarayen Industrial Complex
- Khorramabad
- Shahrekord
- Rad Hamedan Steel
- Golestan Steel
- Arian Steel
- Haft Almas
- Daghigh Kaveh
Where these numbers come from
Distance is the straight line between the two cities times 1.25 for road circuity. The driver’s net fare comes from the tonne-kilometre index and the distance coefficient; on top of it sit a 9% cargo levy, 0.5% supplementary driver insurance and an 8% bill-of-lading commission, about 17.5% in all. Loading is charged separately and is not included.
These are estimates, not quotes. A real fare moves with loading conditions, season, return loads and what the driver agrees to. Call the desk for a firm rate.
Frequently asked questions
How is rebar freight calculated in Iran?
The base fare is tonnes carried times kilometres travelled times the official tonne-kilometre index, adjusted by a distance coefficient. On top of the driver’s net fare come a 9% cargo levy, 0.5% supplementary insurance and an 8% bill-of-lading commission.
What is the 1405 tonne-kilometre index?
Since 15 Khordad 1405 the index is 16,680 Rial, or 1,668 Toman, per tonne-kilometre. It was previously 13,190 Rial, so this was a rise of about 26.5%.
How much can an Iranian trailer carry?
A five-axle eighteen-wheel trailer has a legal maximum gross weight of 44 tonnes and in practice loads about 22 to 24 tonnes of steel. A three-axle ten-wheeler is capped at 28 tonnes gross and carries about 15 tonnes; a Khavar carries four to six.
What is the difference between ex-works and delivered price?
An ex-works price is the steel sitting on the mill’s ground, with no transport in it. A delivered price is that plus the freight to your yard. Over a long haul the difference can be several percent of the goods, so comparing two mills without it is misleading.
Why does a part load cost more per kilogram?
Freight is charged per trip, not per kilogram. A four-tonne Khavar costs less per trip than a trailer, but because it carries far less, each kilogram carries more of the fare. A full trailer is always the cheapest case per kilogram.
What about small pickup loads?
For small loads and city runs the Iranian trade uses a Nissan pickup, which carries up to about two tonnes. The association tariff these numbers are calibrated against carries no ratio for a pickup — that work is negotiated directly — so the calculation here starts at the four-tonne Khavar.
Does the freight figure include VAT?
The figure shown includes the cargo levy and the bill-of-lading commission but not VAT. VAT on the goods is applied separately, with its own toggle on the price tables.
Today’s steel prices
See live rebar, beam, sheet and pipe prices, then add freight to them.