BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec.9
By Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
The number of containers shipped from or to China via Georgia through the middle corridor amounted to 2,343 TEU from January through October 2020, which is 35.1 percent more than in the same period of 2019 (1,734 TEU), Trend reports via the Georgian Ministry of Economy.
The ministry revealed that from January through October 2020, using the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, BTK, 1,260 TEU was transported, which is 371.9 percent more than in the same period in 2019 (267 TEU).
According to the Minister of Economy Natia Turnava, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is the shortest route between China and Europe, reducing the freight and increasing Georgia's competitiveness in this corridor.
A freight train has made the first transit from Turkey to China via the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway. The train left Istanbul on December 4 and will arrive in Xi'an Province via the middle transport corridor. The train will have to cover 8,693 kilometers in 12 days while crossing two continents, two seas, and five countries. The train is loaded with home appliances made in Turkey, placed in 42 containers. Until now, the cargo was transported from China to Europe via the middle transport corridor.
The BTK railway has been built on the basis of the Azerbaijani-Georgian-Turkish intergovernmental agreement. It can greatly reduce the time of delivery of goods from China to Europe via Azerbaijan, which makes this route especially attractive.
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