In January to March 2009, cargo transportation by vehicles made up 41.6mln tons of cargo, or 1.9% more than the same period of 2008. Passenger transportation totaled 303.8mln people or 7.6% more than January-March 2009 indicator. The share of private sector in the passenger transportation made up 81.7%. The passenger transportation by cars made up 81.8%, metro - 17.6%. The private sector share in cargo transportation was 71.2% due to efficient operation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline.
Source: State Statistics Committee
In January to March 2009, cargo transportation by vehicles made up 18.9mln tons of cargo, or 8.1% more than 2008. Passenger transportation comprised 248.4mln people or 7.5% more with 96.6% people using buses and 3.4% people vehicles.
In January to March 2009, the Azerbaijan State Railway Department (ASRD) transported 4.7mln tons of cargo, a decrease of 26.6% compared to the last year. Drop appeared as a result of cut in oil transport and transit deliveries. The number of loaded carriages dropped 30.2% in average and unloaded dropped by 27.4%. Average daily load of carriages in the northern direction dropped by 24.9% and in western direction by 37.8%, but in the southern direction increased by 60.2%.
The cargo shipping via sea rose by 12.3% and comprised 2.9mln tons. Transportation of the Kazakh oil also affected the increase. This figure is expected to shrink in the coming years.
Despite Azerbaijan-Russia talks on granting permission to navigation of 26 vessels, Russia imposed a ban on navigation of Azerbaijani vessels with over 30 years of operation term more than once in its internal waters. Around 80% of Azerbaijani vessels have an operation term of 25-30 years. The Azerbaijan State Caspian Sea Shipping Company owns 75 vessels (40 tankers and 35 dry cargo ships). As many as 20-25 ships beyond the Caspian Sea sail to Baku for repairs every year.
To resolve this system, talks are being held between the transport ministries of Azerbaijan and Russia on possible movement of via Russian canals without application.
Some 73.5% of cargo deliveries fell on oil and oil products, while 26.5% was dry cargo. All cargo deliveries were implemented under the international operations. The volume of cargo processed in Azerbaijani ports was 1.1mln tons in January-March 2009 or 21.4% less than the same period of 2008. About 3,600 tons of cargo was left in ports as of April 1, 2009. This is 79.1% more compared to January-March 2008.
In January-March 2009, the export via oil pipelines made up 11.7mln tons. During this period, 74.3% or 8.7mln tons of oil was transported via the BTC.
Thanks to the work to improve the pipeline, its capacity increased to 1.2 million barrels per day. Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline exports Azeri light crude oil produced from the block of Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli and condensate produced from Shah Deniz field. Crude oil via the pipeline through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey is delivered to the Turkish Mediterranean Port of Ceyhan.
The operator of the pipeline is BP Company. Shareholders of the BTC Co are: BP (30.1%); AzBTC (25%); Chevron (8.9%); StatoilHydro (8.71%); ТРАО (6.53%); Eni (5%); Total (5%); Itochu (3.40%); Inpex (2.5%); ConocoPhillips (2.50%) and Hess (2.36%).
The transport of the Kazakh oil via the BTC kept on increasing in January - March 2009. About 454,100 tons of Kazakh oil was transported.
Transportation via gas pipelines made up 4.7bln cu.m, or 28.2% more than in January -March 2008. One third of the transported gas fell on South Caucasus Pipeline. About 1.6bln cu.m. of gas was transported via this pipe in January-March. The major reason for the growth is the export of the Azerbaijani gas to the foreign markets.
In January-March 2009, the passenger transportation via airways fell by 2.2% and made up 268,400 people, including 7.0% implemented by private sector. Greater part (93.0%) fell on public sector. Private sector transportation fell 6.8% and public sector transportation fell 2.8%.
The metro continues to be the most popular and profitable modes of transport. The Baku Metro conveys 550,000-560,000 passengers per day on average. It conveys around 700,000 passengers on working days.
In January-March 2009, 53.6mln passengers used metro services or 8.3% rise from January-March 2009. The growth is due to improvements in metro work. Due to increase in passengers, the Baku Metro shifted to new schedule. The intervals between trains reduced up to two minutes in rush hours since October 2008.
In January to February 2009, 6.7mln tons of cargo (a decrease of 10.6%) and 32.1mln passengers (5.9% rise) were transported via the Eurasian corridor. The profits from the transportation amounted to AZN 37.2mln, an increase of 7.1% from the last year.