National cargo transportation via TRACECA hits 30.4m tons

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

The volume of cargo transportation through the Azerbaijani section of the Europe-Caucasus-Asia (TRACECA) transport corridor amounted to 30.4 million tons in the first three quarters of 2021, the State Statistics Committee has reported.

There was an increase in the cargo transportation volume by 1.8 percent compared to the corresponding period of 2020.

During the reported period, 17 million tons or 56 percent of the cargo transportation was carried out by automobiles, 9.9 million tons or 32.7 percent by rail and 3.4 million tons or 11.3 percent by sea.

The share of transit cargoes in the total volume of the freight traffic along the TRACECA corridor amounted to 6.6 million tons or 21.9 percent in the first nine months of 2021.

Azerbaijan and TRACECA agreed on cooperation in the areas of expansion of the corridor geography and digitalization of the corridor, during the meeting held between Azerbaijani Digital Development and Transport Minister Rashad Nabiyev with TRACECA Secretary-General Asset Asavbayev. The parties agreed to cooperate in the development of multimodal transport, increasing the competitiveness of container traffic, development of new projects that may help to attract additional cargo flows to the corridor and stepping up efforts to promote the TRACECA corridor at the bilateral and international levels.

It should be noted that in 2020, TRACECA transported 35.5 million tons of cargo through Azerbaijan, including 7.5 million tons or 21.2 percent of transit cargo.

Established in 1993, TRACECA is an international transport program involving the European Union and 12 member states of the Eastern European, Caucasian, and Central Asian region (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan).