In January-August 2013, the Azerbaijani transport sector transported 144.5 million tons of cargo or 2.6 percent more than in January-August 2012. Of the total volume of goods transported in January-August, 75.3 percent fell to the private sector, the Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee said.
Some 57.7 percent of all cargo were transported by vehicles, 26.6 percent - by pipelines, 10.3 percent - by railway and 5.4 percent - by ships.
About 1.11 billion people used passenger transport in January-August, which is 7.8 percent more than the same period of 2012. Most of the passengers were transported by vehicles (87.7 percent) and metro (12 percent).
Automobile transport takes the lion share in the transport field of the country. Some 83.3 million tons of cargo were transported by vehicles, which is 6.5 percent more than in January-August 2012. The volume of passenger traffic totalled 977 million people (an increase of 8.2 percent). Some 96.3 percent of the passengers were transported by buses and 3.7 percent - by cars.
Freight turnover by vehicles during the period increased by 6.6 percent during the reporting period, and passenger turnover - by 9.2 percent.
The problem of congestion in the road network as a result of increasing the number of vehicles in the country is observed in Baku. According to the State Statistics Committee, the number of cars has been increased by 2.4 times for 10 years - from 511,500 in 2003 to 1.136 million in 2012. Much work is being conducted in the country to eliminate the problem. Many new roads and road junctions across the capital have been built for the last few years.
A number of existing highways has been expanded. However, the process of increasing the road network does not objectively keep pace with the increasing number of vehicles, so this problem has not been removed from the agenda yet. One of the decisions as it is known is the construction of parking lots to clear the carriageway and facilitate traffic flows. Some underground and surface parking lots have been recently built in the center of Baku. Others are being constructed.
The work was underway to expand the transport infrastructure of Baku and its suburbs in August, in particular for capital reconstruction of Zabrat-Buzovna section of Sabunchu - Zabrat - Mashtaga - Buzovna highway with a total length of 20 kilometers. This highway is connecting Sabunchu, Zabrat, Mashtaga, Nardaran, Buzovna, Zagulba, Bilgah settlements, in particular, these settlements with Azadliq Square - Airport - Bilgah highway. This will ensure convenient movement of more than 140,000 people. The reconstruction of Zabrat - Pirshagi highway with a length of nine kilometers started. As a result of the reconstruction, the number of lanes on the highway will be increased to four.
In January-August this year, some 14.9 million tons of cargo were transported by rail compared to 15.2 million tons in January-August 2012.
The number of loaded carriages made up 654, in average per day and unloaded - 581. Average daily load of carriages in the northern direction is 24,600 tons and in western direction 6,300 tons and southern direction - 5,900 tons.
Maritime transport carried 7.8 million tons of cargo compared to 8.5 million tons in January-August 2012. All cargo accounted for international operations. The volume of goods handled in ports in Azerbaijan in January-August amounted to 8 million tons.
Some 57.1 percent of cargo shipping fell on oil and oil products, while 42.9 percent on dry cargo. Volume of international transit cargo processed at the ports in January-August hit 84.5 percent. As of September 1, 2013, 66,600 tons of cargo left in the ports for import or 10.1 percent more than in 2012.
The Turkish Asia Denizcilik Company and Özata shipyard transferred a new ship to Azerbaijan. The passenger ship was built at the request of the Azerbaijani side. The ship named Mirvari, has a maximum capacity of 650 passengers.
In January-August, some 29 million tons of oil were transported via oil pipelines. During this period, 75 percent or 22.1 million tons of oil were transported via the BTC (data provided by the State Statistics Committee). In January-August Sangachal terminal transported 2.1 million tons of Turkmen oil via BTC.
Gas transportation via gas pipelines made up 13.1 billion cubic meters in Jan.-August. Some 21.9 percent of the transported gas fell on South Caucasus Pipeline. Some 2.9 billion cubic meters of gas were transported via this pipeline.
Some 1.12 million passengers were transported by air transport, which is 5.1 percent more than in January-August 2012. Some 0.6 percent of traffic by this kind of transport fell to private sector. The volume of cargo transportation by air hit 73,800 tons in January-August increasing by 1.9 times.
Some 133.8 million people were transported by metro (a 5.6 percent growth) compared to the same period of last year. Baku Metro has started the operations within the construction of the section "Khatai-Hazi Aslanov-2" of "green" line. The line is being constructed by French Buiq and Ukrainian Interbudmontazh companies under the mediation of Akkord industrial and construction investment corporation.
Some 34.1 million tons of cargo were transported through the Eurasian transport corridor through the territory of Azerbaijan in Jan.-July, which is 3.4 percent more than in Jan.-July 2012. Some 165.5 million people were transported through the corridor in Jan.-July, which is 9.5 percent more than in Jan.-July 2012.