Some interesting events occurred in the transport sector in Azerbaijan in June, 2014:
- Baku hosted two international exhibitions - "TransCaspian" and "Road and Traffic" on June 12-14. Some 104 companies from 16 world countries attended them. Foreign exhibitors accounted for 50 percent of the total number of participants.
TransCaspian is an important transport forum in the Caucasus, which contributes to the development of transport infrastructure in Azerbaijan, demonstrating the possibilities of attracting transit cargo through Azerbaijan, finding the best transport options for the cargo owners. TransCaspian annually gathers the companies of carriers and logistics, rolling stock manufacturers, shipbuilders, manufacturers of products for intra-logistics and information systems in transport, as well as sea and river ports. TransCaspian 2014 exposition included the companies from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, China, Russia, France, the Czech Republic and Switzerland. Latvian national stand is also involved in the exhibition for four consecutive years.
The exposition included such sectors as maritime and land transportation, ports and port equipment, information systems, navigation and monitoring systems, commercial vehicles. The exhibition has helped to meet with suppliers of multimodal services within "Silk Road", to consider the most profitable way of transportation of goods among the ports of Baku, Aktau and Turkmenbashi, to meet manufacturers of rail transport. The number of the companies participating in the transportation sector increased.
The fourth Caspian International Road and Traffic 2014 has demonstrated a broad panorama of the road infrastructure represented by the companies from Azerbaijan, Germany, Italy, Spain, Singapore, Turkey, Ukraine, the Czech Republic and other countries.
The fairs as part of TransCaspian Road and Traffic included a business program. The second Caspian International Conference "Road and underground infrastructure - solutions to the challenges of urbanization" was held on June 13. The conference focused on Azerbaijan's road infrastructure, urban problems, Greater Baku Regional Development, the construction of large diameter tunnels and other topics.
- The Azerbaijani Transport Ministry is working out a state program to resolve transport problems in Baku, which will cover 2014-2018. The state program envisages reconstruction of existing and construction of new roads, road junctions, bridges and pedestrian crossings. In accordance with the state program, the territory of Baku is divided into three zones of parking. The location and number of parking spaces were determined. Moreover, the ministry is preparing a state program to regulate traffic, which involves the construction of 71 parking lots.
- Azerbaijan and Russia prepared a roadmap for the construction of a border bridge over the Samur river, Russian Deputy Minister of Transport Sergey Aristov said at the plenary session following the fifth Azerbaijani-Russian Interregional Cooperation Forum held in Gabala. "Our experts have prepared a roadmap for the implementation of the project, including timelines, tasks and all the necessary documents," he said. "The issues connected with the trilateral project for constructing a new railway line among Azerbaijan, Russia and Iran were discussed during the forum. The main points of this project will be implemented soon. The issue of restoring Baku-Astrakhan flights was discussed. There are no obstacles from the Russian side."
- Azerbaijan Railways and Swiss company Stadler signed a contract on purchase and sale of 30 new passenger rail cars that meet European standards in Baku. The cars will be supplied to the republic before the new Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway [to be launched in 2015], designed to connect the railways of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, is commissioned. It will be possible to replace the pair of wheels for movement on the European track.
- A new Kharkov-Baku-Kharkov flight will open on June 21 with Ukraine's Dniproavia Airlines carrying out flights on this route. It was decided to open the new flight after numerous appeals from the Azerbaijanis living in Ukraine.
The Azerbaijani transport sector transported 107.9 million tons of cargo in January-June 2014 or by 1.8 percent more than in the same period of 2013, according to the Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee's report as of Jan.-June 2014.
According to a report, the volume of non-oil cargo increased by 3.6 percent, reaching 76.3 million tons in January-June.
Around 76.3 percent of the total volume of goods transported in January-June fell to the private sector.
Some 57.1 percent of all cargo were transported by vehicles, 29 percent - by pipelines, 9.4 percent - by railway and 4.5 percent - by ships.
Some 867.6 million people used passenger transport in January-June, which is 5.8 percent more than in the same period of 2013. Most of the passengers were transported by vehicles (87.3 percent) and metro (12.5 percent).
Automobile transport takes the lion share in the transport field of the country. Some 61.5 million tons of cargo were transported by vehicles, which is 3.14 percent more than in January-June 2013. The volume of passenger traffic hit 757.3 million people (a 6.1 percent growth). Some 96.3 percent of the passengers were transported by buses and 3.7 percent - by cars.
Freight turnover by vehicles increased by 3.2 percent during the reporting period, while passenger turnover - by 6.8 percent.
Some 10.1 million tons of cargo were transported by railway in January-June compared to 11.2 million tons in the same period of 2013.
The number of loaded carriages made up 567, in average per day and unloaded - 582. Average daily load of carriages in the northern direction is 20,100 tons and in western direction 7,000 tons and southern direction - 5,600 tons.
Around 4.9 million tons of cargo were transported by ships in January-June compared to 6 million tons in January-June 2013. All cargo accounted for international operations. The volume of goods handled in Azerbaijani ports amounted to 6.1 million tons in January-June.
Some 57.8 percent of cargo shipping fell to oil and oil products, while 42.2 percent on dry cargo. The volume of international transit cargo handled in the ports hit 86.1 percent. As of July 1, around 79,700 tons of cargo left in the ports for import.
Some 23.3 million tons of oil (a 7.3 percent increase) were transported via main oil pipelines in January-June. During this period, 75 percent or 17.6 million tons of oil were transported via the BTC (data provided by the State Statistics Committee). Sangachal terminal transported 2.6 million tons of Turkmen oil via BTC in January-June.
Gas transportation via main gas pipelines made up 11 billion cubic meters (a 9.8 percent increase) in January-June. Some 28.5 percent of the transported gas fell to the South Caucasus Pipeline. Some 3.1 billion cubic meters of gas were transported via this pipeline.
Some 784,700 passengers were transported by air transport in January-June which is 5.1 percent more than in the same period of 2013. Some 0.2 percent of shipment by this kind of transport fell to private sector.
Some 108.3 million people were transported by metro (a 3.9 percent growth) compared to January-June 2013.
Some 23.4 million tons of cargo were transported through the Eurasian transport corridor TRACECA (Europe-Caucasus-Asia) through the territory of Azerbaijan in January-May 2014 compared to 24.3 million tons in January-May 2013, the Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee said.
Around 49.6 percent of the total volume of transported cargo fell to vehicles, 33.6 percent - railway and 16.8 percent - ships.
Some 124.9 million people were transported through the corridor in January-May, which is 7.9 percent more than in the same period of 2013.