BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 13. Uzbekistan announced its interest in increasing the transshipment of its cargo along the Middle Corridor to 1.5 million tons this week, Trend reports.
The volume of cargo transported between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan is growing dynamically, and the Middle Corridor plays a key role in this.
In addition, Uzbekistan is also interested in launching the Zangezur corridor. For Uzbekistan, this corridor opens up opportunities for the delivery of goods in a shorter period of time to the EU markets, including Azerbaijan.
Moreover, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Türkiye is growing annually. The importance and significance of this corridor is also growing, as it will significantly reduce the distance between these two countries by land, reduce the cost of cargo transportation, which will have a favorable effect on foreign trade turnover. Uzbekistan supports the opening of the Zangezur corridor and the country is ready to help Azerbaijan in the implementation of this project.
The opening of the Zangezur corridor will expand the transport and transit potential of Azerbaijan, as well as the region as a whole. The construction of roads and railways, ports, the creation of transport and logistics infrastructure has made it possible to turn Baku into a transport hub, in particular, a transit hub. Transport and logistics play an important role in the development of Azerbaijan's economy.
The development of a master plan for the construction of the second phase of the Baku International Sea Trade Port (Port of Baku) is being completed. In addition, this year it is expected to launch a mineral fertilizers terminal, which is capable of handling up to 2.5 million tons of cargo. The launch of this terminal will allow attracting even more mineral fertilizers from Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to the Baku port and transshipping them to Europe via a shorter route.
In general, Cargo transportation through the Baku port increased by 14 percent (500,000 tons) - from 3.6 million tons to 4.1 million tons from January through July 2023.
The transshipment of wheeled vehicles (TIR) has also grown - from 28,000 to 29,000. Container transshipment decreased by 9,285 TEUs - from 33,008 TEU containers to 23,723 from January through July 2023. This decrease is due to the fall in the cost of freight in China. Moreover, container traffic is expected to increase by the end of this year.
