BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 30. The growth of handling volume at the Baku Sea Trade International Port (Port of Baku) is linked to the transit cargo flows via Azerbaijan, the Port’s Director-General Taleh Ziyadov said last week, Trend reports.
According to Ziyadov, overall, in 2021 the handling volume of the port increased by 14.6 percent compared to 2020.
He noted that last year, dry cargo handling at the port grew by 66 percent and container transportation by 11.6 percent on annual basis.
Besides, according to the port’s head, its infrastructure enables it to handle up to 100,000 TEU containers, and its total throughput capacity is 15 million tons per year.
Ziyadov further said that the second phase envisages an increase in the port's total annual throughput capacity to 25 million tons of cargo, and container handling capacity - to 500,000 TEU.
Currently, the construction of the fertilizer terminal [within the port] is being completed, he also noted.
According to him, the terminal’s commissioning (in the first quarter of 2023) will enable to turn the port into a major transshipment point for fertilizer products from Central Asia.
The terminal is expected to have an annual handling capacity of nearly three million tons, Ziyadov explained, adding that it’s planned to launch a terminal for handling cereals with a throughput capacity of 120,000 tons at the port.
Last week, the Permanent Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Commission TRACECA said that the transport infrastructure of Azerbaijan is ready for a sharp growth in the transit cargo flow.
TRACECA predicted that in the current geopolitical situation, container cargo transportation from China to Europe and back through the territory of Azerbaijan will grow three to five times in 2022 compared to previous years.
Besides, according to the permanent secretariat, negotiations on the unification of tariffs are conducted both between the TRACECA member countries, and within the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia and Kazakhstan), and in this regard, active work is underway to create a working group within customs authorities.
Following the first meeting of the working group within TRACECA, it’s expected both the optimization of tariffs and the attraction of additional transit goods, the permanent secretariat said.