BAKU, Azerbaijan, Mar.16
By Sadraddin Aghjayev - Trend:
Construction of a new separate terminal for transshipment of mineral fertilizers will start at the Baku International Sea Port (Port of Baku) in 2021, the port’s General Director Taleh Ziyadov said, Trend reports via the port's statement.
According to Ziyadov, the terminal will be built specifically for cargo from Central Asia, and its design capacity will make nearly 2.5 million tons per year.
The general director noted that currently the port has 11 access railway lines, and it is also planned to build a grain terminal, to which a separate railway line will be built.
"The activation of ferry communication in the Caspian Sea allows Turkmenistan to expand sea transport, in connection with which the country purchased two Ro-Ro ships. On March 1, 2021, Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping CJSC (ASCO) commissioned the modern vessel ‘Azerbaijan’, capable of carrying up to 100 passengers, 56 wagons or 50 oversized cargo TIRs," he further said, adding that this year it’s planned to open a new route for the transportation of container cargo in the direction of Turkmenistan.
"The restoration of the Baku-Nakhchivan railway line, which is expected to pass through Azerbaijan’s Alat and Horadiz settlements, Armenia’s Meghri town and Azerbaijani Nakhchivan’s Julfa city, may open a new route to Iran and the Middle East," said Ziyadov.
"It’s planned to build a direct railway between Nakhchivan and Turkey in the direction of Kars city to connect this corridor with the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway route. The connection with BTK will have two routes: through Nakhchivan and Georgia's Tbilisi. Each new route provides additional opportunities for the development of the transport sector. In addition, this corridor will open the way to the Turkish port of Mersin in the Mediterranean Sea," Ziyadov stressed.
He noted that the Baku port is an active participant in the Trans-Caspian international corridor.
"Several years ago, the corridor participants agreed on a single tariff, which became a serious incentive for the growth of cargo transportation along this route. In the future, another route for the transportation of goods may be opened in this corridor," concluded the general director.
As earlier reported, in 2020 the number of TIRs transshipped via the Baku port grew by 28 percent compared to 2019 and amounted to 43,218 units. The number of exported containers increased by 15 percent and reached 40,345 containers in TEU equivalent (TEU is one 20-foot container). The volume of cargo transported at the dry cargo terminal increased 2.8 times and amounted to 711,700 tons.
Thus, in comparison with the indicators of the last 5 years, the number of TIRs has increased by five times, containers - three times. The volume of cargo at the dry cargo terminal has increased by 3.5 times.