Some events occurred in the Azerbaijani transport sector in October 2016:
- The construction of the Binagadi-Novkhani-Jorat highway has been launched, Azeravtoyol OJSC said. The length of the highway is 14 kilometers. The highway will be expanded from current 7-9 meters to 12 meters and it will be four-lane. The highway construction will facilitate the movement of 72,000 people living in five settlements.
The Heydar Aliyev International Airport served 265,000 passengers in October 2016, which is 19 percent more than in the same period of 2015, the airport’s press service said.
The airport served over 2.7 million passengers in January-October 2016. Of them, 1.7 million passengers chose to fly with Azerbaijan’s national carrier, Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL).
Some 468,000 passengers were transported via AZAL domestic flights to Nakhchivan and Ganja, which accounts for 17 percent of total passenger traffic of the airport.
During the same period, 12.9 million tons of cargo was transported through the airport’s cargo terminals.
Istanbul, Moscow, Dubai and Kiev remain the most popular international destinations for the passengers flying from Baku. Forty-five percent of the passengers flew to these cities in January-October 2016.
Azerbaijan Airspace Supervision & Efficiency Centre (ASEC) will be built at Heydar Aliyev International Airport. The relevant agreement was signed by CJSC Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) and French company Thales.
The project will be implemented within the framework of the implementation of air traffic management system (ATM) and air traffic flow management (ATFM) in collaboration with Eurocontrol.
Azerbaijan Airspace Supervision & Efficiency Centre at Heydar Aliyev International Airport will be a key center for planning of air traffic flow between European Central Flow Management Unit (CFMU), located in Brussels and Air Traffic Flow Management Center, located in Singapore.
The fast growth of the Asian and Chinese markets, as well as the strategic position of Azerbaijan contribute to growth in both internal and transit air traffic, and therefore, our country is assigned an important role in air flow management throughout the region.
Azerbaijan Railways CJSC and Rusagrotrans CJSC, Russia’s rail infrastructure operator providing transportation of grain and agricultural bulk cargoes by specialized railcar fleet, have signed documents in Baku to create a joint venture AzRusTrans CJSC.
The new company will be created in order to increase the share of rail transportation in freight turnover between Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Georgia and Turkey, Trend’s correspondent reported from the event of signing the documents.
Chairman of the Azerbaijan Railways CJSC Javid Gurbanov, addressing the presentation of the Azerbaijani-Russian joint venture AzRusTrans CJSC in Baku, said that 51 percent stake in the company is owned by the Azerbaijan Railways CJSC, and 49 percent is owned by Rusagrotrans CJSC.
“The main goal of the company is to increase cargo transportation through Azerbaijan,” Guliyev said. “Tentatively, the car fleet of the company amounts to nearly 75,000 cars, and currently, this is a record figure in the CIS.”
He added that AzRusTrans CJSC, managing the fleet of 3,500 cars, expects to transport up to 2 million tons of cargo each year by transit through the territory of Azerbaijan by 2020 and to increase this figure to 5.5 million tons in the future.
The railway administrations of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Georgia signed an agreement on the establishment of the International Association of the Trans-Caspian international transport route (TMTM), Kazakhstan Railways reported. The association will focus on attracting transit and foreign trade cargo, as well as on the development of integrated logistics products via TMTM. Such issues as effective tariff policy, optimization of costs and value of integrated services, a single transportation technology, contribution to the reduction of administrative barriers related to border and customs procedures will be worked out as part of the association.
The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route runs through China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and then through Turkey and Ukraine to Europe.
A contract worth 132 million manat has been signed in Azerbaijan for construction of two new unique Ro-Pax (roll-on/roll-off passenger) ferries.
The ferries will be built at Baku Shipyard LLC by the order of the Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping CJSC. The project’s designer is Ukraine’s Marine Engineering Bureau.
The ferry is designed for freight and passenger traffic. The vessel with deadweight of 5,540 tons will be able to carry up to 56 tanks, 46 gondola cars, 44 freight cars, 50 trucks and will have 100 passenger seats.
Currently, Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping CJSC has 13 ferries, two of which are RO-RO type ferries. Seven of those ferries can carry up to 28 cars, while other six ferries can carry 52-54 cars.
The Azerbaijani transport sector carried 182.6 million tons of cargo in January-October 2016 or by 0.8 percent less than in January-October 2015, the Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee’s report said.
According to the report, the volume of non-oil cargo increased by 2.3 percent and reached 135.7 million tons. Around 82.2 percent of the total volume of goods transported accounted for the private sector during this period. Some 63.6 percent of all cargo were transported by vehicles, 26.9 percent - by pipelines, 6.9 percent - by railway, 2.5 percent - by ships, 0.1 percent – planes.
Some 1.58 billion people used passenger transport in January-October 2016, which is 1.9 percent more than in the same period of 2015. Most of the passengers were transported by vehicles (88.5 percent), metro (11.2 percent) and the rest part – other types of transport.
Automobile transport takes the lion share in the transport field of the country. Some 116.3 million tons of cargo were transported by vehicles, which is 2.8 percent more than in the same period of 2015.
The volume of passenger transportation reached 1.4 billion people (a 2.5 percent growth compared to Jan.-Oct. 2015). Some 96.1 percent of the passengers were transported by buses and 3.9 percent - by cars.
Freight turnover by vehicles increased by 2.8 percent during the reporting period, while passenger turnover - by 2.5 percent.
Some 12.5 million tons of cargo were transported by railway in January-October or by 11.9 percent less than in January-October 2015.
On average, the number of loaded carriages made up 440 and unloaded - 421.
Average daily load of carriages in the northern direction is 17,900 tons and in western direction 5,000 tons and southern direction – 1,700 tons.
Around 4.58 million tons of cargo were transported by ships in January-October 2016 or by 18.5 percent less than in January-October 2015. Some 42.3 percent of the transported goods accounted for oil cargo. The volume of goods handled in Azerbaijani ports amounted to 7.46 million tons in January-October.
The volume of international transit cargo handled in the country’s ports reached 93.7 percent. As of November 1, 2016, around 43,300 tons of import cargo left in the ports for transportation.
Over 37 million tons of oil were transported via main oil pipelines in January-October. Some 77 percent or 28.52 million tons of oil accounted for BTC.
Some 3.8 million tons of transit oil were transported via the BTC in January-October.
Gas transportation via main gas pipelines made up 16.74 billion cubic meters in January-October 2016 or by 3.4 percent less than in January-October 2015. Some 34.5 percent of the transported gas accounted for the South Caucasus Pipeline. Some 5.78 billion cubic meters of gas were transported via this pipeline.
Some 1.71 million passengers were transported by air transport in January-October which is 7.6 percent more than in January-October 2015. Some 0.2 percent of shipment by this kind of transport accounted for the private sector. Some 177.5 million people were transported by metro decreasing by 2.9 percent compared to the same period of 2015. Some 253.3 million passengers were transported through the Eurasian transport corridor TRACECA (Europe-Caucasus-Asia) in January-September 2016 or by 2.4 percent more than in the same period of 2015, the Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee said.
Some 37.15 million tons of cargo were transported through TRACECA during the reporting period or by 5.4 percent less than in the same period of 2015, the committee said. Around 63.2 percent (23.5 million tons) of the total volume of transported cargo accounted for vehicles, 27.5 percent (10.21 million tons) – railway, 9.3 percent (3.44 million tons) – ships. Some 14.9 percent (5.52 million tons) of cargo accounted for transit.