East-West And North-South Corridors Should Not Be Seen As Competing Routes

The East-West and North-South transport corridors should not be viewed as either competing or complementary routes, as they serve different types of cargo and different destinations, Kamran Habibov, Chairman of the Azerbaijan Freight Forwarding Association, told AzerNEWS in an exclusive interview.

"The North-South [corridor] is more about connecting Russia with India and the Far East, more precisely Southeast Asia, with direct access to the Indian Ocean," he said.

Meanwhile, the East-West corridor is currently transporting cargo from China and Central Asia to Europe.

"We hope that it will work in the opposite direction as well, because there is quite a lot of cargo returning from Europe to Central Asia," he emphasized.

Habibov noted that consultations are currently being held with railway companies and transport ministries to explore ways of improving cargo flows along the routes.

He stressed that logistics companies play an important role in managing supply chains for finished products and highlighted the potential of return cargo.

"If we look at Central Asia, Azerbaijan and the countries of the South Caucasus, excluding China, more raw materials are transported from here, while a lot of finished products return in the opposite direction," Habibov highlighted. According to him, this return cargo should be used more effectively to ensure the return of containers and other transport equipment.

"This needs to be used to ensure the return of our containers and so on, so that the circulation of transport vehicles is closed," he stressed, noting that creating a more balanced two-way cargo flow would significantly increase the efficiency of the transport system.

Habibov also added that reducing empty container movements and making better use of return cargo could further improve the efficiency and competitiveness of the East-West route.

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