Some important events occurred in the country's transport sector in August 2014:
- The governments of Azerbaijan and Iran reached an agreement on the construction of a new railway, a highway and the second pedestrian bridge on a coordinated area of the Astara (Iran) - Astara (Azerbaijan) border checkpoint. Both countries agreed to accelerate the work as part of the construction of the Rasht-Astara railway. The Qazvin-Rasht-Astara (Iran)-Astara (Azerbaijan) railway is being constructed as part of the North-South international corridor. The Iranian side completed about 80 percent of the construction of the Qazvin-Rasht line. Currently, the remaining part is being constructed. The project is expected to be completed in early 2015.
- The technical task on project documentation was signed to construct a bridge which will connect Russia and Azerbaijan. A new bridge, which will connect the shores of the Samur River, will have two traffic lanes and meet modern requirements. It will be built by using new technologies and modern equipment. It is assumed that the length of the bridge crossing, i.e., the length of the bridge and its approaches will be about 800 linear meters, including a direct length of the bridge - 325 linear meters.
- Azerbaijan and Iran intend to consider the issue of initiating two new flights, according to the text of the protocol signed following the ninth meeting of the bilateral intergovernmental commission on trade-economic and humanitarian cooperation in Baku. The sides will consider the issue of initiating Nakhchivan-Tehran-Nakhchivan and Mashhad-Baku-Mashhad flights. The information on research results will be exchanged.
- Azeryolservis JSC of the Azerbaijani Transport Ministry completed constructing a new bridge across the Kura river, which is located on the ninth kilometer of the Hajigabul-Bahramtepe section of the M-3 highway. The length of the new bridge is 317.7 meters, width - 14.85 meters. The bridge consists of three spans.
- The Birinci Shahseven-Ahmadli-Dunyamalilar highway was commissioned in Beylagan district. The total length of the highway connecting eight settlements with a population of 25,000 people exceeds 39 kilometers. Currently, a 20-kilometer sector of the highway completed.
- AZAL (Azerbaijan Airlines) resumes direct Baku-Astrakhan-Baku flights from September 22, 2014. A roundtrip will be made once a week (Monday / Tuesday). The aircraft will depart from Baku at 7:00 p.m. on Monday and return to the capital at 05:35 a.m. on Tuesday. The flights will be made by Embraer comfortable aircraft.
- Baku Metro CJSC and the French company Thalys inked a contract on supply of equipment for control and signalling system of the Baku Metro. The contract includes the purchase of modern equipment and software, their installation, as well as settlement of other related issues. The use of new equipment envisages a full automation of control and signal system of the Baku Metro, as well as minimizing the human participation in the process.
- Azerbaijan's "Silk Way Airlines" has received two new cargo Boeing 747-8 aircraft, Boeing reported. Modern Boeing 747-8 aircraft is more spacious than Boeing-747-400 aircraft. Silk Way Airlines" is the Azerbaijani cargo airline with the headquarters in Baku. The airline is the leader in the region in regular and charter cargo flights to more than 50 destinations.
- The Ahmadalilar-Mollamaharramli-Arayatli Babi highway was commissioned in Azerbaijani Fizuli district. The total length of the highway is more than 32 kilometers.
The Azerbaijani transport sector transported 147.7 million tons of cargo in January-August 2014 or by 2 percent more than in the same period of 2013, the Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee said.
According to the report, the volume of transported non-oil goods increased by 3.2 percent, reaching 105.2 million tons in January-August.
Around 76.7 percent of the total volume of goods transported in January-August fell to the private sector.
The Azerbaijani transport sector transported 218 million tons of cargo in 2013, which is 3.4 percent more than in 2012.
Some 58 percent of all cargo were transported by vehicles, 28.1 percent - by pipelines, 9.5 percent - by railway and 4.4 percent - by ships.
The Azerbaijani transport sector transported 218 million tons of cargo in 2013 or by 3.4 percent more than in 2012.
Around 1.2 billion people used passenger transport in January-August, which is 5 percent more than in the same period of 2013. Most of the passengers were transported by vehicles (87.9 percent) and metro (11.9 percent).
Automobile transport takes the lion share in the transport field of the country. Some 85.5 million tons of cargo were transported by vehicles, which is 2.7 percent more than in January-August 2013. The volume of passenger traffic hit 1 billion people (a 5.2 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 2.8 percent during the reporting period, while passenger turnover - by 5.9 percent.
Some 14 million tons of cargo were transported by rail in January-August compared to 14.9 million tons in the same period of 2013.
The number of loaded carriages made up 594 in average per day and unloaded - 606. Average daily load of carriages in the northern direction is 21,400 tons and in western direction 7,100 tons and southern direction - 5,800 tons.
Around 6.5 million tons of cargo were transported by ships compared to 7.8 million tons in Jan.-Aug. 2013. All cargo accounted for international operations. The volume of goods handled in Azerbaijani ports amounted to 8 million tons in January-August 2014.
Some 56.8 percent of cargo shipping fell to oil and oil products, while 43.2 percent on dry cargo. The volume of international transit cargo handled in the ports hit 85.9 percent. As of September 1, 2014, around 114,900 tons of cargo left in the ports for import.
Some 31.2 million tons of oil (a 7.7 percent growth) were transported via main oil pipelines in Jan.-Aug. 2014. During this period, 75 percent or 23.6 million tons of oil were transported via the BTC (data provided by the State Statistics Committee). Sangachal terminal transported 3.6 million tons of Turkmen oil via BTC in Jan.-Aug..
Gas transportation via main gas pipelines made up 14.4 billion cubic meters (a 9.6 percent increase) in Jan.-Aug. Some 28.4 percent of the transported gas fell to the South Caucasus Pipeline. Some 4.1 billion cubic meters of gas were transported via this pipeline.
Some 1.2 million passengers were transported by air transport in Jan.-Aug. which is 8.5 percent more than in the same period of 2013. Some 0.3 percent of shipment by this kind of transport fell to private sector.
Some 138.7 million people were transported by metro (a 3.6 percent growth) compared to Jan.-Aug. 2013.
Some 33.5 million tons of cargo were transported through the Eurasian transport corridor TRACECA (Europe-Caucasus-Asia) through the territory of Azerbaijan in January-July 2014, compared to 34.1 million tons in January-July 2013, according to the Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee's report.
Around 50 percent of the total volume of transported cargo fell to vehicles, 34.1 percent - railway and 15.9 percent - ships.
Some 178.2 million people were transported through the corridor in January-July, which is 7.6 percent more than in the same period of 2013.
Around 59 million tons of cargo were transported through the Azerbaijani segment of the corridor in 2013, which is 3.8 percent more than in 2012. Around 285.2 million people were transported as part of the corridor in 2013 or by 9.3 percent more than in 2012.