Azerbaijan continues the diversification of the economy by developing the non-oil sector. The special attention is paid to two events in February. They are related to the transport sector of the country:
- Ganja Automobile Plant Production Association and Minsk Automobile Plant (MAZ) JSC signed a memorandum on developing the cooperation in the fields of production, sales, opening of the service centers and supplying the products to the markets of third countries.
- Azerbaijan's Ganja Automobile Plant and Russia's Kamaz Automobile Plant (KAMAZ) signed an official distribution agreement for the assembly and sale of KAMAZ vehicles in Azerbaijan and other countries.
The Azerbaijani transport sector transported 33.2 million tons of cargo in January-February 2015 compared to 33.1 million tons in the same period of 2014, according to the Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee's report as of January-February 2015 said.
According to a report, the volume of non-oil cargo increased by 2.8 percent, reaching 22.5 million tons in January-February.
Around 73.7 percent of the total volume of goods transported accounted for the private sector during this period.
Some 52.8 percent of all cargo were transported by vehicles, 32.3 percent - by pipelines, 10.7 percent - by railway and 4.2 percent - by ships.
Some 283.8 million people used passenger transport in January-February, which is 4.1 percent more than in the same period of 2014. Most of the passengers were transported by vehicles (87.1 percent) and metro (12.7 percent).
Automobile transport takes the lion share in the transport field of the country. Some 17.5 million tons of cargo were transported by vehicles, which is 2.6 percent more than in the same period of 2014.
The volume of passenger transportation hit 247.1 million people (a 3.7 percent growth compared to the same period of 2014). Some 96.5 percent of the passengers were transported by buses and 3.5 percent - by cars. Freight turnover by vehicles increased by 2.6 percent during the reporting period, while passenger turnover - by 3.8 percent.
Some 3.6 million tons of cargo were transported by railway in January-February 2015 or by 18.5 percent more than in the same period of 2014.
On average, the number of loaded carriages made up 459 and unloaded - 516. Average daily load of carriages in the northern direction is 19,000 tons and in western direction 5,200 tons and southern direction - 2,300 tons. Around 1.4 million tons of cargo were transported by ships during this period compared to 1.6 million tons in the same period of 2014. All cargo accounted for international operations. The volume of goods handled in Azerbaijani ports amounted to 1.9 million tons in January.
Some 69.3 percent of cargo shipping fell to oil and oil products, while 30.7 percent on dry cargo. The volume of international transit cargo handled in the ports hit 94.6 percent. As of March 1, 2015, around 21,100 tons of import cargo left in the ports for transportation.
Some 7.6 million tons of oil were transported via main oil pipelines in January-February. During this period, 77.6 percent or 5.9 million tons of oil were transported via the BTC (data provided by the State Statistics Committee).
Gas transportation via main gas pipelines made up 4.3 billion cubic meters in January-February. Some 28.4 percent of the transported gas fell to the South Caucasus Pipeline. Some 1.2 billion cubic meters of gas were transported via this pipeline.
Some 231,000 passengers were transported by air transport in January-February which is 3 percent more than in the same period of 2014. Some 0.1 percent of shipment by this kind of transport fell to private sector.
Some 36.1 million people were transported by metro (a 6.2 percent growth) compared to the same period of 2014.
Some 4.8 million tons of cargo were transported through the Eurasian transport corridor TRACECA (Europe-Caucasus-Asia) through the territory of Azerbaijan in January 2015 or by 4.5 percent more than in the same period of 2014, the Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee said.
Around 51.5 percent of the total volume of transported cargo fell to vehicles, 32.5 percent - railway and 16 percent - ships. Some 26.9 million people were transported through the corridor in January, which is 8 percent more than in the same period of 2014.