BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb.28
By Sadraddin Aghjayev - Trend:
Chairman of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC Javid Gurbanov held a meeting with Argentine ambassador to Azerbaijan Sergio Perez Gunella this week, the company told Trend.
According to the company, during the meeting the option of transporting goods from container terminals and ports in Argentina with further delivery to the Turkish port of Mersin, from there to the Georgian port of Poti, then via railways to Azerbaijan and Russia was considered.
Moreover, it’s possible to transport Argentine goods to the Central Asian countries through the Azerbaijani port of Alat. The parties considered the possibility of transporting local goods to Argentina upon the same scheme.
In the reporting week, the Russian media reported about wheat transportation from Russia’s Novosibirsk region to Turkey along the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway, noting that it’s for the first time that Russia makes such supplies through BTK.
The volume of the consignment was 500 tons, and the delivery time for grain - about 12 days.
Earlier, such goods were sent to Turkey through the ports of the Black Sea. The delivery included more than five logistics operations: rail transportation, port transshipment, forwarding, ship charter, transshipment at the Turkish port, and delivery to the consumer. Moreover, the delivery times could be up to a month.
Besides, this week it was reported that the volume of Turkey’s cargo transportation reached 30 million tons in 2020. According to General Manager of the State Railways Property Directorate (TCDD) Hasan Pezuk, Turkey carries out cargo shipments via the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway line on export container trains to several European countries, Iran, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and China.
"The BTK and Iron Silk Road (the railway corridor connecting China to Europe and the Middle East through Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine) are very important international railway corridors because cargo shipment via the routes is more profitable, faster, and safer. We closely work with our exporters for expanding the cooperation," said Pezuk, adding that the demand for the BTK and Iron Silk Road corridors is growing.
Director-General of the Baku International Sea Trade Port (Port Of Baku) Taleh Ziyadov said that the port’s trade turnover, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, increased by 20 percent in 2020.
"During the reporting year, the number of TIRs increased by 28 percent compared to 2019 and amounted to 43,218 units. The number of exported containers increased by 15 percent and reached 40,345 containers in TEU equivalent (TEU is one 20-foot container)," he noted.
"The volume of cargo transported at the dry cargo terminal increased 2.8 times and amounted to 711,700 tons. So, in comparison with the indicators of the last 5 years, the number of TIR has increased five times, containers - three times. The volume of cargo at the dry cargo terminal has increased 3.5 times," the general director further said.
Ziyadov added that the number of overloaded heavy vehicles (TIR) and containers was a record over the past 30 years.
Besides, in the outgoing week for the successful use of the CADMATIC program, Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Company (ASCO) CJSC has been awarded a certificate of the program developer.
This software is a specialized tool for the design and construction of ships of any complexity, ASCO said.
The company noted that it has been in use at the ASCO Caspian Marine Design Research Institute for four years.
"This software has improved the quality of the institute's work. It made it possible to develop technical documentation for the construction of ships in the shortest possible time. Besides, this solution is more accurate and efficient compared to other software," summed up the shipping company.
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