BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 22. The focus was on the development of international transport corridors, particularly the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), or the Middle Corridor, last week, Trend reports.
Thus, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) considered providing support to strengthen the logistical functions of the Middle Corridor, seeing potential in Azerbaijan's advantageous geographical location and attractive state incentives.
The Secretary-General of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA), Kairat Sarybay, noted during a briefing in Baku that the Middle Corridor is a highly important project for interconnectivity among the region's countries, and participants in this project have a strategic approach based on competitiveness and diversification.
Business Development Manager for Central Asia and the Caucasus at the Maersk logistics company, Irakliy Daneliya, said that Maersk actively collaborates with key stakeholders participating in the Middle Corridor project, primarily with railway companies in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan and, of course, China, to ensure that the TITR is efficient for local clients, regional customers, and international companies and operates seamlessly.
According to him, Maersk welcomes any initiative that contributes to clear coordination of transportation along the Middle Corridor and its digitization, as this will help simplify administrative and paperwork processes, reducing potential delays in transit of goods at border and customs points in each country.
Daneliya also said that the company transports significant volumes of containers from China to various destinations, such as Baku, Georgia, Türkiye, and further into Europe, and such operations are highly demanded.
He mentioned growing interest from Japan and Korea, which connect China with the Middle East and deliver goods to the Caucasus and European countries.
He emphasized that Maersk's main focus is on container shipping, so the company collaborates with cargo owners, transport companies, and logistics companies at the local level to handle already packed goods.
He advocated for the growth of containerization along the Middle Corridor.
Daneliya also clarified that Maersk collaborates with all the seaports along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, including the ports of Baku and Aktau.
Vice Minister of Transport of Kazakhstan, Satzhan Ablaliyev, said that the country is taking measures to address the bottlenecks on the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route.
According to him, the target of transporting 4.2 million tons via the TITR in 2024 is quite achievable, especially due to the growth in the transportation of Chinese goods.
In 2023, 2.76 million tons of cargo passed through the TITR.
This week, the head of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC (ADY), Rovshan Rustamov, and the EU Special Representative for Central Asia, Terhi Hakala, discussed the Middle Corridor project and its growing significance in Baku.
The TITR was also a spotlight on Hakala's meeting with the head of the Baku International Sea Trade Port, Taleh Ziyadov.
The parties recognized the strategic importance of this port in the global connectivity of Europe and Asia along the Middle Corridor and in strengthening regional sustainable economic development.
On April 17, the TITR Association announced the resumption of container shipments from China to Italy via the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route after a one-year break. The first cargo, tomato paste from China to Italy, is expected to arrive at the port of Naples by the end of April.
Kyrgyzstan also showed interest in trade through the Caspian region.
Thus, the head of the Kyrgyz State Customs Service, Samat Isabekov, announced on April 17 at the Caspian Investment Forum in Bishkek the prospects of transporting goods from China through Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan to Türkiye and the EU.
He emphasized the need to simplify customs procedures to facilitate international trade through the Caspian region.
At the same forum, the Minister of Transport and Communications of Kyrgyzstan, Tilek Tekebayev, noted that in recent years there has been a trend of increasing freight volumes between Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as in the east-west direction (which is part of the TRACECA project, with its backbone being the Middle Corridor).
Participating in the Bishkek Investment Forum, the head of the Azerbaijani transportation company Union Logistics (involved in freight transport via the TITR) and Chairman of the Caspian Energy Club Kyrgyzstan, Rovshan Mehdiyev, urged Azerbaijani and Kyrgyz companies to contribute to the successful functioning of the Middle Corridor.
It was announced last week that the Permanent Secretariat (PS) of the international transport program TRACECA (Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia) is awaiting clarification of Turkmenistan's position regarding its readiness to sign a number of documents related to its official accession to TRACECA.
As the TRACECA PS clarified, Turkmenistan should sign the Agreement on a Single Transit Permit, the Agreement on the Development of Multimodal Transport, join the Multilateral Permitting System, and resolve several procedural issues.
In April, the reputable European analytical company Strategy International Ltd. (SI) dedicated a separate article to the TITR titled "The Trans-Caspian Corridor Stimulates Trade and Economic Growth between Asia and Europe," authored by SI expert Robert Cutler.
He noted that the TITR has been closely studied since 2022 by international financial institutions (IFIs), freight forwarding, and trading companies worldwide and is expanding amid geopolitical challenges.
According to Cutler, for Azerbaijan, the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route is more than just a trade diversification initiative; it is a project that positions the country as a central transit hub, promising a significant boost to Azerbaijan's economy.
Raza Sayed, an international expert on Asian economies, noted that the participating countries of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route aim to strengthen their advantageous geostrategic position and role through this route.
Representative of the prestigious Uzbek Development Strategy analytical center Farrukh Hakimov pointed out that the development of an international multimodal route covering China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Türkiye, and Europe, essentially an expanded Middle Corridor, has the potential to reduce transit times for cargo from Central Asia to Europe by threefold.
At the prestigious Passenger Terminal Expo 2024 in Frankfurt, the Director of Air Traffic Management at AZANS (Azerbaijan Air Navigation Services) under Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL), Farhan Guliyev, and the Managing Director of DFS Aviation Services, Andreas Petz, signed a contract to expand their cooperation.
AZANS announced that DFS Aviation Services, a part of the DFS Group, is a global leader in air navigation services and a major supplier in Germany.
The agreement entails equipping the new international airport in Lachin with the advanced Phoenix air traffic management system.
It has also been reported that the volume of freight transport by all modes of transportation in Azerbaijan from January through March 2024 amounted to 54.6 million tons, which is 4.7 percent higher than the same period in 2023.
Data from the State Statistical Committee of the country shows that 76.4 percent of freight transport is attributed to private transportation companies (an increase of 5.3 percent compared to the first quarter of last year), while the rest is handled by state-owned enterprises.
The committee said that maritime transport carried over 1.9 million tons of various goods (a 6.1 percent increase), road transport carried 30.4 million tons (a 7.2 percent increase), air transport carried 94,500 tons (a 13 percent increase), and rail transport carried 4.47 million tons (a 0.3 percent increase).
Passenger transport by all modes of transportation in Azerbaijan from January through March 2024 amounted to 452,911.7 thousand people, which is 6.9 percent higher than the first quarter of 2023.
Most of the passenger transport (over 396 million) was by road (a 7.5 percent increase), with over 378 million by bus (a 7.3 percent increase).
Passenger traffic by rail increased by 24.6 percent to 1.8 million, by metro by 1.6 percent to over 53 million, and by air transport by 45.1 percent to 782,100.
Meanwhile, sea transport carried 6,200 passengers during the first quarter of this year (a 31.9 percent increase).