Of the events in March 2011 in the transport sector of Azerbaijan, which had a positive impact on this sector of the economy, it needs to note the order signed by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on additional measures for long-term development of the Baku Metro.
4 Marchthe Parliament of Azerbaijan ratifiedthe agreementon thedevelopment ofmultimodaltransportwithin the TRACECA transportcorridor( Europe-Caucasus- Asia).
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on March 17 attended the groundbreaking ceremony for a new terminal building at the Heydar Aliyev International Airport.
Also in March, work continued on the reconstruction of existing roads in the transport system in Baku.
Thus, the transport infrastructure in Azerbaijan is completely updated. Currently a new international sea port is being built in Baku, the railways are reconstructed, highways are laid, the marine and air transport is developing.
According to the State Statistics Committee, in January- March 2011, the cargo transportation by all transport means made up 45.8 million tons of cargo or 5.6 percent more than 2010.
The private sector share in cargo transportation was 7 1 .3 percentç an increase of 6 percent from the last year.
In January- March 2011, of the total cargo volume transported, 47.4 percent accounted for road transport, 35 percent - pipelines, 10.9 percent - railway and 6.7 percent - by sea.
The passenger transportation during the reported period totaled 332 million people, which is 6.2 percent more than the same period of 2010. Passenger transportation by automobile was 86.5 percent, metro - 13.1 percent.
In January-March 2011, automobile transport took the lion share in the transport field of the country. The cargo transportation by vehicles in January-March 2011 made up 21.7 million tons of cargo or 6.7 percent more than the same period of 2011. Passenger transportation comprised 287.1 million people (increased by 7.8 percent) with 96.4 percent people using buses and 3.6 percent people - vehicles. Freight turnover by road during the period grew by 7 percent compared with first quarter of 2010, and passenger turnover - by 8.9 percent.
In January-March 2011, the Azerbaijan State Railway Department (ASRD) transported 5mln tons of cargo compared to 4.9mln tons during the same period of the last year. The number of loaded carriages made up 611 in average per day and unloaded - 397. Average daily load of carriages in the northern direction is 30,400 tons and in western direction - 2,400, but in the southern direction - 2,700.
The cargo shipping via sea increased by 9.8 percent to 3.1 million tons in January-March 2011. All cargo deliveries were implemented under the international operations. The volume of cargo processed in Azerbaijani ports was 3.1 million tons in 2011, an increase of 32 percent. About 60.5 percent of cargo shipping fell on oil and oil products, while 39.5 percent on dry cargo. Volume of cargo import increased 54.2 percent, the volume of international transit cargos increased 32.6 percent. As of April 1, 2011, 19,400 tons of cargo left in the ports for import, which is 43.7 percent more compared to last year.
In January-March 2011, the export via oil pipelines made up 12.1 million tons. During this period, 76.3 percent or 9.2 million tons of oil was transported via the BTC (data provided by the State Statistics Committee).
Transportation via gas pipelines made up 5.5bln cubic meters or 11% more than 2010. 23.6% of the transported gas fell on South Caucasus Pipeline. About 1.3 billion cubic meters of gas was transported via this pipeline.
In January-March 2011, the passenger transportation via airways totaled 271,200 people. The public share in the passenger transportation via airways made up 98.3 percent and private sector 1.7 percent.
In January-March 2011, 43.7 million passengers used metro or 2.5 percent less than last year.
About 8.9 million tons of cargo was transported through Azerbaijan via the Eurasian transport corridor in January-February 2010, or 11.9 percent more than the same period of 2010. Roughly 40 million passengers were transported within the corridor in January-February 2011 or 7.1 percent more than last year.
Transit of cargo through the territory of Azerbaijan for the first three months of 2011 totaled around 3.129 million tons, half of which is Turkmen oil.