BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 7
By Sadraddin Aghjayev - Trend:
The first China-Azerbaijan container block train departed from China on Jan. 31, 2021, a source in ADY Container LLC, affiliate of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC told Trend.
According to the source, despite the COVID-19 pandemic difficulties in the global supply chain, including the lack of containers, ADY Container was able to launch a 50-container block train from Qingdao, China to Baku.
"The train, consisting of 40-foot containers, will be transported from the Kazakh port of Aktau to the port of Baku. Then 15 of the containers will be sent to Georgian Tbilisi," noted the source.
The dry cargo vessel ‘Teymur Akhmadov’ owned by Azerbaijani Caspian Shipping Company (ASCO) CJSC will carry out feeder shipments across the Caspian Sea starting from February 2021.
According to the source, ASCO and ADY Container LLC (a subsidiary of the Azerbaijan Railways CJSC) signed a new cooperation agreement.
"In pursuance with the agreement, the vessel ‘Teymur Akhmadov’ will conduct feeder shipments on Alat-Turkmenbashi (Turkmenistan)-Alat route," the source said. "It’s planned to carry out 4 voyages monthly."
The dry cargo vessel is capable of simultaneously transporting 80 or 40-foot containers, added the source.
The company, along with the Turkmen Railways through the support of the Baku International Trade Sea Port, plans to start to use feeder vessels from April 2021.
The petroleum coke produced at the Heydar Aliyev Oil Refinery of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) has begun to be exported to India, a subsidiary of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC, ADY Express LLC, said.
Since early 2021, 25,000 tons of coke have been shipped to India.
The main flow of passenger traffic in Azerbaijan will fall on buses due to the easing of the COVID-19 pandemic-related quarantine measures and the opening of the inter-district transport communication, car expert Elmaddin Muradli told Trend.
"Upon the decision of the Baku Transport Agency and the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies of Azerbaijan, conditions were set for the passenger carriers to renew the bus fleet," the expert stressed. "Within this decision, in the period before the pandemic, the carriers carried out certain work in this direction."
"Several carriers of the international bus terminal have already been in talks to renew their fleet. I hope this process will resume in the post-pandemic period," Muradli added.
Until 2020, when the tourism sector of Azerbaijan was in good condition, minibuses accounted for about 40 percent of the total number of imported cars in the Azerbaijani transport sector, the expert said.
"In connection with the planned and phased resumption of traffic between the cities of Azerbaijan and the liberated lands, the demand for minibuses may resume," Muradli added.
"In the future, when the citizens of our country will be able to visit the liberated territories for tourist, personal, and other purposes, the demand for buses and minibuses will increase significantly," said the expert.
The goals of the ‘green corridor’ system are to create more favorable conditions for law-abiding participants in foreign trade, increase the efficiency of state regulation of business, specialist on economic and legal issues Vusala Ahmadova told Trend.
Ahmadova added that the system is also aimed to increase flexibility and transparency of customs control and clearance based on risk assessment and customs audit.
"The ‘green corridor’ serves to minimize physical customs checks, strengthen the country's export potential, develop relations between the state and entrepreneurs in accordance with modern management principles and ensure more optimal use of available resources," Ahmadova said.
----
Follow the author on Twitter: agdzhaev