Azerbaijan, Baku, Apr.14 / Trend, E. Ismayilov /
In January-March, the Baku International Sea Trade Port saw the passage of 221,000 tons of dry and container cargo compared to 16,000 tons in January-March 2009, a source at the port said.
"Significant growth has been observed in the first quarter," the source said.
According to the source, the growth is due to increasing cement clinker imports from Iran. The amount of humanitarian goods has also increased from Europe to Afghanistan via Kazakhstan (Aktau).
The transportation of humanitarian goods across the Black Sea, Georgia and Azerbaijan, and across the Caspian Sea to Central Asia, has been underway since March 2009.
TRACECA National Secretary from Azerbaijan Akif Mustafayev said 1,000-1,500 containers with humanitarian cargo are transported monthly to Afghanistan.
"Within TRACECA, about 1,000-1,500 containers with humanitarian cargo, including medicine, construction materials and products, are successfully transported to Afghanistan from the West. Azerbaijan's role in realizing this transportation is great," Mustafayev said.
According to the source, in January-March, the port shipped 660,000 tons of ferry cargo, which is 28 percent more than in the first quarter of 2009.
In total, the port shipped 1.3 million tons of cargo in the first quarter of 2010, which is 14 percent more than in January-March 2009. About 417,000 tons fell to oil cargo.
In 2009, the Baku port shipped 2.5 million tons of oil cargo, which is 10 percent less than in 2008. In total, the port shipped 5.1 million tons of cargo in 2009.