Baku Port increases cargo turnover by 21 pct in 3Q2021

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

The cargo turnover of Azerbaijan's Baku Port increased by about 21 percent in the first three quarters of 2021.

The port, which is an important part of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, had a total transshipment volume of more than 4.2 million tons in the first nine months of 2021. It should be noted that during the same period last year the port transported more than 3.5 million tons of cargo.

The highest growth for this period was recorded for dry cargo transshipments. Thus, the volume of dry cargo transported at the port in January-September of the current year exceeded 856,000 tons, which is by 69 percent more compared to the corresponding period of last year.

The number of containers transported at the Baku port also increased in the corresponding period and amounted to 30,774 TEUs.

Another significant increase was registered in the volume of transportation of oil and oil products at the Dubandi oil loading terminal. Thus, the volume of oil and petroleum products exports in the first nine months of 2021 increased almost threefold and exceeded 1 million tons.

The Port of Baku is located in Alat at the crossroads of two major transportation corridors – East-West and North-South. The Port of Baku serves as a major intermodal distribution hub, but will also employ an integrated development model that involves port activities, bonded zone, the Alat township, and various transport and non-transport projects.

It should be noted that the 20-foot equivalent unit (TEU) is an inexact unit of cargo capacity, often used for container ships and container ports. It is based on the volume of a 20-foot long (6.1 m) intermodal container, a standard-sized metal box that can be easily transferred between different modes of transportation, such as ships, trains, and trucks.