(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 17. Because of itsgeostrategic position, Azerbaijan plays a crucial role in theNorth-South transport Corridor (INSTC) and East-West or TransCaspian International Transport Route (TITR) internationaltransport corridors, Rauf Aghamirzayev, expert in transport andlogistics, told Trend.
He noted that cargo transportation along the INSTC has seen asignificant increase in recent years.
"Considering this, the state is undertaking several projects,including the reconstruction of the Astara terminal. This work wasnecessary because of the surge in cargo traffic. To meet demand,the reconstruction aimed to organize the cargo flow in the southerndirection. In 2017, Azerbaijan leased 35 hectares of land in Iran'sAstara for 25 years and built a terminal there. The ongoingreconstruction of the Astara terminal in Azerbaijan will alsoenhance its cargo handling capacity. The Astara terminal willinitially handle up to 1 million tons of cargo per year, withprojections to increase this to 4 million tons once the project iscomplete," he said.
Discussing the repair works on the Sumgayit-Yalama railroad, theexpert noted that electrification is expected to be completed by2028.
Additionally, plans call for the construction of the Yalama-2and Samur-2 stations on the Russian side of the border, which willallow for the handling of 15 million tons of cargo by 2025, Yalama station can accommodate about 10 pairs of trains(approximately 11 million tons of cargo per year) in one directionper day. These infrastructure projects will boost freight trafficalong the INSTC. We expect the corridor to handle up to 30 milliontons of cargo by 2030. Azerbaijan is also working on diversifyingits routes. For instance, the Horadiz-Agbend railway and theconstruction of a new highway in the Iranian direction through theAraz River will provide an alternative route for the INSTC,extending beyond Astara to Julfa," he explained.
Azerbaijan Railways CJSC (ADY) has successfully completed thereconstruction of a cargo warehouse in Azerbaijan's Astara districtto enhance cargo transportation along the INSTC. In this area, theState Customs Committee's Astara Customs Department has organizedcustoms control.
Until now, multimodal transportation services along the INSTChave been provided solely at the ADY terminal in Iran's Astara. Theagreement to construct this terminal was signed in 2017, withtransshipment operations beginning in 2018. Construction at theterminal is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
Once the Astara-Resht railway line in Iran becomes operational,transit cargo volumes through both Astara terminals shouldsignificantly increase.
The Astara terminal in Iran, operational since 2018, handledover 2.5 million tons of cargo through Astara Terminal LLC between2018 and 2023. During this period, the annual cargo volume morethan tripled, rising from 211,789 tons in 2018 to 692,402 tons in2023, a 48 percent increase from 2022. In the first four months of2024, the terminal handled 284,688 tons of cargo, marking a 14percent increase over the same period in 2023.
From January through April 2024, ADY's transit freight trafficrose by 14 percent year-on-year to 2.517 million tons. During thisperiod, freight traffic along the INSTC increased by 29 percentcompared to the same four months last year, reaching 260,000tons.
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