BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 23. The largest fertilizer terminal storage facility in the region, with a capacity of 2.5 million tons, located at the Baku International Sea Trade Port (BISTP) in Alat, is scheduled to be officially launched in the summer of 2024, an informed source at BISTP told Trend.
“For the fourth consecutive year, Central Asian (CA) countries have been transporting fertilizers to the West via Azerbaijan. Due to this, the decision was made to build a fertilizer terminal storage facility in Alat at the BISTP with a capacity of 2.5 million tons, as CA countries have increased their fertilizer transit.
As a result, the fertilizer terminal storage facility in Alat began operations in 2024, but the official opening ceremony is scheduled for the summer,” the source explained.
According to the source, fertilizers from Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan are received at this terminal storage facility, and then they proceed to the ports of Poti and Batumi for subsequent delivery to Europe and other regions of the world.
"In 2021, Turkmenistan transited 1.2 million tons of fertilizers through Azerbaijan. Later, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan joined these transit deliveries," the source emphasized.
Moreover, the source mentioned that an additional separate terminal can be required in Alat for Kazakh fertilizers, and this project is discussed and considered as part of BISTP’s work to expand the overall cargo handling capacity of the port to 25 million tons per year from the current 15 million tons per year.
“In April, fertilizer handling through BISTP amounted to 70,000 tons, but at its peak, twice as much passes through this Alat port per month. Volumes depend on the contracts signed by Central Asian countries for fertilizer supplies, as the fertilizer market is volatile,” the source added.
To note, this complex for the transshipment and storage of various types of fertilizers became the first public-private partnership project in BISTP (with the involvement of Turkish capital).
Last year, the total volume of various types of cargo handled at BISTP exceeded 7.3 million tons (a 51 percent increase over the previous three years).
