Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 25 / Trend , E.Ismayilov /
Stone-laying of a new international commercial port will be held in the Alat village (near Baku) in the near future, State Marine Administration head Gudrat Gurbanov said at a press conference held at the New Azerbaijan Party's headquarters.
"The new port will be unique in Azerbaijan and around the Caspian Sea region," Gurbanov said.
Projecting of the new port is conducted by Dutch company Royal Haskoning.
Royal Haskoning is an engineering construction and design company, which was established in the Netherlands in 1881.
This port will be a multi-modular, because it is planned to build both a logistics center and free economic zone in this territory.
Construction of the new international seaport in the Alat village will be realized in three stages and be completed by 2015. The first stage of the project, which was supposed to cover 2008-2010, envisages construction of two ferries, three cargo bridges for receiving containers, ro-ro type vessels and ordinary (universal) dry cargo ships. The second stage covers 2011-2013 and envisages construction of three cargo bridges, and the third stage of the project (2014-2015) - construction of an additional two cargo bridges. The project of port construction is estimated at more than $400 million.
Eleven berths, with six to complete in the first stage of this project, will be built in the new seaport. Therefore, these berths will be built in 2009-2011. After the completion of the construction of the seaport it can accept up to 11.6 million tons of cargo.
There are six international trade ports in the Caspian Sea. They are Baku (Azerbaijan) and Turkmenbashi (Turkmenistan), Aktau (Kazakhstan), Astrakhan (Russia), Anzali and Neka (Iran).