Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, May 16
By Huseyn Hasanov – Trend:
Italy is joining the financing of a project aimed at increasing the throughput capacity of Turkmenistan’s Turkmenbashi port in the Caspian Sea, Trend reports with reference to the Italian Embassy in Ashgabat.
Italy is co-financing an OSCE project to promote the so-called Green Ports and regional interaction in the Caspian Sea, the report said.
Prepared by the Office of the Coordinator for OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities, this initiative aims to improve the capacity of the Turkmenbashi port together with the ports of Baku (Azerbaijan) and Aktau (Kazakhstan).
The initiative includes using the principles of “Green Ports” in order to reduce the environmental impact of production and consumption of energy, enhance energy security through diversification of supplies and to promote regional interaction.
It was earlier reported that volumes of freight traffic through the Turkmenbashi International Seaport in Turkmenistan have recently grown.
Ships delivering construction materials from Iran are unloaded at the port berths, and the Kazakh wheat is being loaded onto Iranian cargo ships.
The port provides transshipment of goods arriving for Afghanistan and in the opposite direction - to Azerbaijan and Turkey. Containers from Spain, intended for consignees in Uzbekistan, are unloaded. Shipment of construction materials, metal and wood from Turkey and Russia is provided.
Urea produced in Turkmenistan’s Garabogaz city, polyethylene and polypropylene from the polymer plant in Kiyanly settlement, petroleum coke from the oil refining plant in the city of Turkmenbashi are sent regularly from the seaport to Turkey, Russia, Bulgaria, Romania and other countries. The flow of passengers and vehicles transported to the Caspian ports by Ro-Pax Berkarar and Bagtyyar ferries increased significantly.
The updated transport and logistics hub in Turkmenbashi city is designed to provide a qualitatively new level of economic and trade cooperation between the countries of Asia and Europe, to give a strong impetus to interregional relations, optimize transport flows in the Eurasian space, the report said.
The solemn ceremony of opening of this port took place on May 2, 2018. The annual capacity of the port will be 17-18 million tons. Together with the previously operating port, this figure will reach 25-26 million tons.
The international ferry and passenger port will be able to serve 300,000 passengers and 75,000 trailers a year. The container terminal has an average annual capacity of 400,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units). The cost of the project implemented by Gap Insaat Company (Turkey) is more than $1.5 billion.
With the commissioning of an additional international sea port in Turkmenbashi in May 2018, optimal opportunities emerged for sending goods that enter the port along the Silk Road route from the countries of Asia and the Pacific, and further to European countries through the ports of Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran.