The first container train arrived at Baku International Sea Trade Port from China via the Trans-Caspian international transport route in early August.
The Trans-Caspian international transport route stretches through China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgi, Turkey and further to Europe.
The first meeting of the working group of Coordination Committee of Trans-Caspian international transport route was held in January 2015 in Baku. During that meeting, the sides reached an agreement on adopting measures on organizing container service on China-Kazakhstan-Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey route by using the new Zhezkazgan-Beineu railway line, the facilities of Aktau port, as well as Akhalkalaki-Kars railway line that is under construction.
The train consisting of 82 containers and 41 platforms departed from China 's city of Shihezi July 28. It traveled more than 4,000 kilometers, visiting Kazakh port of Aktau as well.
The first container train was launched on the China-Kazakhstan-Azerbaijan route. A competitive tariff was set on transportation via this route.
Around 300-400 containers will be delivered via this route by 2020, which will bring hundreds of millions in revenues to the country, Javid Gurbanov, head of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC said.
The Azerbaijani transport sector transported 148.9 million tons of cargo in January-August 2015 or by 0.7 percent more than in the same period of 2014, according to the Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee's report as of January-August 2015 said.
According to a report, the volume of non-oil cargo increased by 2.5 percent, reaching 107.4 million metric tons in January-August.
Around 80 percent of the total volume of goods transported accounted for the private sector during this period.
Some 61.5 percent of all cargo were transported by vehicles, 27.6 percent - by pipelines, 7.8 percent - by railway, 3.1 percent - by ships.
Some 1.211 billion people used passenger transport in January-August, which is 3.6 percent more than in the same period of 2014. Most of the passengers were transported by vehicles (87.9 percent) and metro (11.9 percent).
Automobile transport takes the lion share in the transport field of the country. Some 91.5 million tons of cargo were transported by vehicles, which is 7 percent more than in the same period of 2014.
The volume of passenger transportation hit 1.064 billion people (a 3.6 percent growth). Some 96.2 percent of the passengers were transported by buses and 3.8 percent - by cars.
Freight turnover by vehicles increased by 7 percent during the reporting period, while passenger turnover - by 3.7 percent.
Some 11.6 million tons of cargo were transported by railway in January-August 2015 compared to 14 million tons in the same period of 2014.
On average, the number of loaded carriages made up 464 and unloaded - 448. Average daily load of carriages in the northern direction is 19,100 tons and in western direction 5,200 tons and southern direction - 2,300 tons.
Around 4.6 million tons of cargo were transported by ships during this period compared to 6.5 million tons in the same period of 2014. All cargo accounted for international operations. The volume of goods handled in Azerbaijani ports amounted to 5.9 million tons in January-August.
Some 69.5 percent of cargo shipping fell to oil and oil products. The volume of international transit cargo handled in the ports hit 94.4 percent. As of September 1, 2015, around 84,100 tons of import cargo left in the ports for transportation.
Some 31 million tons of oil were transported via main oil pipelines in January-August. Some 75.8 percent or 23.5 million tons of oil accounted for BTC.
Some 4 million tons of transit oil were transported via the BTC in January-August.
Gas transportation via main gas pipelines made up 14 billion cubic meters in January-August or by 2.7 percent less than in the same period of 2014. Some 30.5 percent of the transported gas fell to the South Caucasus Pipeline. Some 4.27 billion cubic meters of gas were transported via this pipeline.
Some 1.2 million passengers were transported by air transport in January-August which is 3.6 percent more than in the same period of 2014. Some 0.3 percent of shipment by this kind of transport fell to private sector.
Some 144.2 million people were transported by metro (a 4 percent growth) compared to the same period of 2014.
Some 30.9 million metric tons of cargo were transported through the Eurasian transport corridor TRACECA (Europe-Caucasus-Asia) in January-July compared to 33.5 million metric tons in the same period of 2014, the Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee said.
Around 57.4 percent of the total volume of transported cargo fell to vehicles, 30.1 percent - railway, 12.5 percent - ships. Some 18.9 percent of transported cargo accounted for transit goods.