North-South corridor has indisputable advantage

By Azernews

By Leman Mammadova

The International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) has an unquestionable competitive advantage over the traditional route from the Baltic countries to India, Russian expert Leonid Khazanov told Trend on Thursday.

He noted that this corridor may reduce the time and cost of delivery of goods by 35-40 percent, and the distance – twice.

Khazanov added that the cargo turnover between Russia and Azerbaijan may increase due to the North-South project.

“The potential cargo turnover by this corridor can be estimated at 20-30 million tons per year, and Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran will play the main role in it,” he said.

However, it is necessary not only to develop the ports on the Caspian Sea, but also to accelerate customs clearance for the practical implementation of the project, said the expert.

“However, the projects that are being implemented today allow us to look at the future of the North-South project optimistically as it is beneficial for many countries, and Russia and Azerbaijan will be able to get great advantage from it,” added Khazanov.

Moreover, as the expert noted, the North-South may have three different paths at once: the western (actually passing along the historical Caspian trade route), the eastern (through Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan) and the Trans-Caspian.

INSTC is designed for the transportation of goods from India and the Gulf countries to Russia, Western Europe, the Baltic and Scandinavian countries.

The North-South transport corridor was established in 2000 within the Intergovernmental Agreement between Russia, Iran and India. The main purpose of the agreement is to increase the efficiency of transport communications in the organization of freight and passenger transportation, to create conditions for member states to enjoy the international rail, automobile, sea, river and air transport services, to assist in increasing the volume of international transportation. The project envisages connecting India with the Middle East and the Caucasus, Central Asia and Europe.

In total, 13 countries have ratified the Agreement. Azerbaijan joined this Agreement in 2005. The purpose of the corridor is to reduce the delivery time to three weeks from India to Russia, as well as to North and Western Europe as the current route takes more than six weeks (through the Persian Gulf, the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean Sea to Helsinki).

Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia signed an agreement in 2005 on the construction of 375 km long Astara-Resht-Qazvin railway project envisages the construction of a new railway line in Iran, which will connect Astara, Azerbaijan to the Iranian cities of Astara, Rasht and Qazvin as well as the reconstruction of an existing railway in Azerbaijan.

The railway between Astara regions of Azerbaijan and Iran has been already completed. Qazvin-Rasht part of railway has been launched in November. The construction of the Rasht-Astara railway will be completed in two years.

The expected volume of cargo on the corridor passing through the territory of Azerbaijan is 3 million tons at the first, 5-8 million tons at the second and 15 million tons at the third stage.

Last year, Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia lowered the tariffs by 50 percent for the activation of cargo transportation via the North-South international transport corridor. In 2017, the increase in cargo transportation through the territory of Azerbaijan between Russia and Iran was 68 percent.

Recently, Azerbaijan Railways CJSC has been identified as an authority that will acquire land plots for state needs that fall under the construction of a railway line on the 56-kilometer Gasimly-Astara section of the INSTC.