The representatives of the railway administrations of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Georgia chose Black Sea Transit LTD and Advantage International Transport and Logistics LTD the operator of the container train on the Poti-Baku-Almaty route, the State Railway Department of the Azerbaijani Transport Ministry told Trend.
The companies are charged in preparation of the marketing strategy on development of work of container train, envisaging study of cargo points, advertisment and proposals on further work. The demo container train will work on the commercial basis from 1 February.
The companies are due to conclude bilateral agreements with the companies Kaztranservice (Kazakhstan), TransKavkaz (Azerbaijan), as well as Baku International Marine Trade Port Р°nd Caspian Shipping till 15 March 2006.
The container train was launched on 24 December 2005. The train will attract consignors from China and Europe. The freight is transported from Georgian Poti port to Kazakh Actau and back through Baku.
According to experts, at present around 3% or 4% of the total container freight from Europe to Asia and back is transported through Russia due to application of price dumping. It comprises around 150,000 containers per year. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Georgia intend to attract a part of freight for transportation via the TRACECA corridor.