Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 28
By Emil Ismayilov and Abbas Akhundov - Trend:
The Azerbaijani Transport Ministry plans to start transferring the ferry terminal of the Baku International Sea Trade Port to a new port at the Alat settlement (65 km south of Baku) in late June, 2014, Azerbaijani Deputy Transport Minister, Musa Panahov told journalists on Jan. 28.
He said the construction of the ferry terminal is actively continuing and this will allow the start of its operation in line with the set timeframes. This, in turn will make it possible to move the ferry terminal outside the city centre.
"Active work is also underway as part of the creation of container and dry cargo terminals. It is planned to establish a container terminal corresponding to modern requirements in order to provide the prospective transhipment of containerised cargo from the east in the future," Panahov said.
The construction of the new international port began in November 2010.
The assembly at Alat is being carried out in three phases. The project's first phase includes the construction of two ferry and three cargo berths for receiving the ro-ro type containers and simple (universal) dry cargo ships.
The project's second phase involves the construction of three more cargo berth and the third includes the construction of two additional cargo berths.
The port will be able to receive up to 11.6 million tons of cargo per year.
Creation of a powerful port infrastructure is important from the point of view of transportation of goods via the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway which is expected to be fully commissioned in 2015.
He said work on the creation of a new railway is well underway in both Georgia and Turkey. Also work is underway for the renewal and reconstruction of railways in Azerbaijan.
The first test wagons are planned to be sent up to Georgia's border with Turkey in October 2014 as part of the new railway project.
Construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway is one of the most important parts of the Caspian transit corridor.
At the first stage, it will be able to carry one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo. In the future the capacity of the BTC will increase up to three million passengers and 20 million tons of cargo.
The total length of the BTK railway is 826 kilometres. Following commissioning of the railway, the mutual trade between Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey will increase significantly and the total amount exceed $10 billion per year.
Translated by E.A.
Edited by S.M.