TODAY.AZ / Business

Cargo transportation records growth

27 June 2019 [10:00] - TODAY.AZ

By Azernews


By Mirsaid Ibrahimzade

Noticeable growth of passenger and freight traffic between Azerbaijan and the neighboring countries demonstrates the importance of Azerbaijan in the region as a transport hub connecting East and West.

In January-May 2019, cargo transportation in Azerbaijan recorded a 2 percent growth in comparison with the same period of 2018. Some 90.5 million tons of cargo were transported within this period, according to the Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee.

As for the means of transportation, vehicles (62.8 percent of goods) prevail over other types of transport. The rest is distributed between pipelines (27.8 percent), railway (6.5 percent), ships (2.8 percent), and planes (0.1 percent).

As many as 791.1 million people were carried by passenger transport in January-May 2019, which is 1.5 percent more than in the same period of 2018. The most of the passengers (87.3 percent) were transported by vehicles, 12.5 percent - by metro, and the remainder - by other types of transport.

Railway carried 5.8 million tons of cargo and 1.3 million passengers within January-May 2019, which is 5.7 and 21 percent, respectively, more than in the same period of 2018.

On average, the number of loaded railcars amounted to 277, unloaded – 392 per day. The average daily load of railcars in the northern direction of the railway amounted to 10,800 tons, in the western direction – 4,300 tons, in the southern direction – 700 tons.

Ships’ share in cargo transportation amounted to 2.56 million tons during the first five months of this year and showed a 27.6 percent decrease compared to the same period of last year. Some 27.6 percent of the transported cargo accounted for oil cargo. The volume of cargo handled in the Azerbaijani ports in January-May 2019 reached 3.35 million tons, 91.4 percent of which accounted for transit cargo (3.07 million tons).

As of June 1, 2019, the volume of cargo remaining in the ports reached 99,400 tons.

The number of passengers transported by ships increased by 18.3 percent compared to the same period of 2018 and reached 7,100 people in January-March 2019.

In January-May 2019, 56.9 million tons of cargo was transported by vehicles, which is by 2.4 percent more than in the same period of 2018. Vehicles transported 690.4 million people within this period and this is by 1.8 percent more than in the same period of last year.

Some 95.9 percent of the passengers were transported by buses and 4.1 percent - by taxi. Cargo turnover increased by 2.4 percent, while passenger turnover – by 1.9 percent.

Metro carried 98.6 million people which is 0.9 percent less compared to the same period of 2018.

In January-May 2019, some 856,200 passengers were transported by planes, which is 3.4 percent more than in the same period of 2018, and 0.2 percent of the transportation by planes accounted for the private sector. Cargo transportation by planes dropped by 9.9 percent and amounted to 79,900 tons for the year.

In general, Azerbaijan has become the transport and logistics hub of the region due to the effective steps taken in recent years.

In recent times, the work to improve the transit potential of the country, create a modern infrastructure that provides international transportation, and upgrade the transport fleet has become more intensive.

Currently, there are several routes from East to Europe pass through the territory of Azerbaijan. Among such projects are the International North-South Transport Corridor, which is constructed to transport goods from India and the Persian Gulf countries to Russia, Western Europe, the Baltic and Scandinavian countries.

Moreover, being a part of the East-West Corridor, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, which is built at the initiative of Azerbaijan, allows supplying cargo to Europe. Another example is the Lapis Lazuli corridor, which runs from Afghanistan to Azerbaijan, Turkey and further to Europe.

The implementation of important infrastructure projects not only increases the economic power of Azerbaijan, but also strengthens its international image.


URL: http://www.today.az/news/business/183901.html

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