BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 18
By Sadraddin Aghjayev - Trend:
Implementation of new projects will attract new types of cargo and increase the capacity of the Baku port, Head of the Strategic Planning and Development Department of the Baku International Sea Trade Port (Baku port) Khudayar Hasanli told Trend.
According to Hasanli, in 2021, the transshipment of wheeled vehicles (TIR) increased by more than 16 percent, amounting to 13,600 units of equipment.
“Over the past 3-4 years, cargo transportation by means of containers has been growing. Our region in the global container transport chain is exceptional in terms of transshipment to Asia, Europe, and China. The growth through our port of handling containerized cargo is associated with the sustainability of the infrastructure and capabilities of the port,” said Hasanli.
"In 2020, we handled over 40,000 TEU-containers, and over the first 5 months of this year, the transportation of goods by containers increased by 17.7 percent or 17,232 containers, compared to the same period of 2020,” he stressed.
According to the port's forecasts, the transshipment of containers will reach about 42,000-43,000 TEU this year, which shows an annual growth of this traffic by 20-25 percent, Hasanli noted.
"There is also a growth in demand for the transshipment of mineral fertilizers. The countries of Central Asia, especially Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, have great potential for the production and export of mineral fertilizers. The new urea plant in Turkmenistan has the ability to produce 1.2 million tons of products per year. In addition to this plant, there are other factories capable of producing up to 600,000 tons of products, as well as there are factories with a total production capacity of 2-3 million tons of sulfur per year," he said.
Hasanli emphasized that mainly produced sulfur and mineral fertilizers are exported, and most of them pass in transit through Azerbaijan.
“In 2020, we handled over 630,000 tons of mineral fertilizers, and in 2019 - about 167,000 tons. From January through May 2021, 456,000 tons were handled. We predict that in 2021 the transshipment of mineral fertilizers will exceed 800,000 tons, in connection with which we began to build a new transshipment terminal, which is planned to be commissioned in 2022,” he said.
He added that the capacity of this terminal will be 2.5 million tons of products per year.
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