In January to July 2009, cargo transportation by vehicles made up 106.3 million tons of cargo, or 0.6% more than the same period of 2008. The cargo turnover increased by 0.9 percent.
The private sector share in cargo transportation was 72.7% due to efficient operation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline.
Passenger transportation totaled 739.9 million people or 7.4 percent more than January to July 2009. The share of private sector in the passenger transportation made up 82.3%. The passenger transportation by cars made up 82.4%, metro - 17.0 percent.
In January to July 2009, automobile transport took the lion share in the transport field of the country. The cargo transportation by vehicles made up 50.9mln tons of cargo, or 7.1% more than the same period of 2008. Passenger transportation comprised 609.7mln people with 96.5% people using buses and 3.5% people vehicles. Cargo turnover by vehicles increased by 8.2% compared with the first half of last year, and passenger - 8.3%.
In January to July 2009, the Azerbaijan State Railway Department (ASRD) transported 11.6mln tons of cargo, a decrease of 29.2% compared to the same period of 2008. The number of loaded carriages dropped 29.4% in average and unloaded dropped by 32.7%. Average daily load of carriages in the northern direction dropped by 20.3% and in western direction by 48.8%, but in the southern direction increased by 60.0%.
The cargo shipping via sea rose by 12.5% to 7.5 million tons. Transportation of the Kazakh oil also affected the increase. Presently, deliveries are carried out by three Azerbaijani and two Kazakh tankers.
Some 74.1 percent of cargo deliveries fell on oil and oil products, while 25.9 percent was dry cargo. All cargo deliveries were implemented under the international operations. The volume of cargo processed in Azerbaijani ports was 2.9 million tons in January to July 2009, or 14.7 percent less as compared to last year figure.
In January-July 2009, the export via oil pipelines made up 29.2 million tons. During this period, 75.5% of oil was transported via the BTC. At the same time in January to July 2009 Kazakh oil transportation via the BTC, which began in October 2008, continued its increase in. The transportation made up 1 million tons.
Transportation via gas pipelines made up 7.1bln cu.m, or 13.3% more than in January -July 2008. The major reason for the growth is the export of the Azerbaijani gas to the foreign markets. One third of the transported gas fell on South Caucasus Pipeline. About 3.2 billion cubic meters of gas was transported via this pipeline in January to July.
In January to July 2009, the passenger transportation via airways fell by 14.8% to 642,600 people, including 9.3% implemented by private sector. Greater part (90.7%) fell on public sector. Private sector transportation fell 20.5% and public sector transportation fell 17.3%.
On July 2, international airport named after Heydar Aliyev completely stopped the flights in night. However, this decision did not affect the decrease in the volume of passenger traffic, moreover, in July 2009 was transported 15.8 percent more passengers than the previous month.
The main goal of stopping night flights is to ensure comfort and tranquility for the residents of Baku, where the airport is located. Flights from the airport in all directions are carried out from 07:00 in the morning until 12:00 in night.
Metro remains 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 to July 2009, 109.7mln passengers used metro services or 9.1% rise from January to July 2009. The growth is due to improvements in metro work. Due to increase in passengers, the Baku Metro shifted to new schedule. Newly opened station Nasimi and the newly reconstructed Icheri Sheher promoted rise in passenger transportation. Ban on functioning of mini-buses in the center of the city also increased the passenger flow in metro.
In January to July 2009, 21.1mln tons of cargo (a decrease of 13.2%) and 99.4mln passengers (a rise of 2.7%) were transported via the Eurasian corridor.