Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct.13 / Trend E. Ismailov /
Some 6.5 million tons of cargo were transported within eight months of this year within the "North-South" transport corridor from Russia, 3.5 million tons of which were transported by rail and then through the ports of Astrakhan and Olya, Alexander Khrapati, head of the Volga railway - branch of JSC "Russian Railways" said.
He said 88 percent of cargo transported from the Astrakhan port, were transported to Iran, the rest to Turkey and Turkmenistan. Also the ports located on the Caspian Sea, have technical possibilities and opportunities for improving their own infrastructure for the transshipment of goods, intended for transport within the "North-South" transport corridor (about 25 million tons of cargo per year).
According to the JSC Russian Railways Senior Vice President, Valery Reshetnikov, at present ferry transportation in the Caspian Sea exists between Russia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. Currently, works are underway on its organization in the direction of Makhachkala-Amirabad, as well as Olya-Amirabad. In particular, the Makhachkala port is capable of handling 20,500 wagons (wagons are transported by ferry communication).
According to him, the Railways is currently engaged in works not only on the management of railroads, but also the ports' activity, that will coordinate the activities of these two types of transport and facilitate and accelerate the process of goods transportation.