On November 25 the Port of Baku, Austrian OBB Rail Cargo Group and Cabooter Group (NL) signed an agreement to strengthen and expand the freight traffic from Europe to Central Asia and China via the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (Middle Corridor).
The Federal Minister of Transport, Innovation and Technology of Austria Andreas Reichhardt, and Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan to Austria Galib Israfilov were also present at the signing ceremony. The parties have decided to jointly promote the Middle Corridor in Europe and strengthen the connections between the existing European freight networks and logistics hubs in Europe with the Port of Baku.
Andreas Reichhardt said that “Today’s signed MoU marks a new strategic initiative of the Rail Cargo Group, expanding its presence towards Central Asia and China. The Port of Baku is going to play a key role in the development of the initiative. We expect that over a short period, the mentioned route will be very efficient in terms of timing and volumes of cargo transshipment”.
Director-General of the Port of Baku, Dr. Taleh Ziyadov noted that “The agreement with new partner, the Austrian OBB Rail Cargo Group, is an important milestone in expanding the West-to-East transport corridor from Europe’s busiest logistics hubs in the Netherlands such as Venlo and Germany to Turkey (Istanbul), Azerbaijan (Baku), Central Asia and further to China”. (Trend/Business World Magazine)