Railway transport, in particular when using containers, is currently the safest and most stable way for goods transportation between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, a representative of the Ministry of Trade and Integration has reported.
The ministry official said that normally cargo transportation between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan was carried out by all types of transport on the following routes:
– by railways via transit through Russia;
– mixed railway/road transport and maritime transport through Kazakhstan’s Caspian Sea ports of Aktau and Kuryk;
– by road transport from Kazakhstan through Russia;
– by direct air flights of Kazakh companies from Almaty, Nur-Sultan and Aktau cities to Baku.
“At the same time, seven regular cargo flights per week are performed by the Azerbaijani Silkway Airlines cargo airline company on the Baku-Almaty-Hong Kong/Shenzhen, Baku-Aktau-Baku and Baku-Atyrau-Baku routes,” the official said.
The official also added that Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia were actively working together to develop the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route.
“The formed alliance of railway, maritime and logistics transport operators of the route have provided a unified transportation technology and tariff policy in both transit and export-import routes to increase the efficiency of the route. By launching a new automobile ferry complex in the Kuryk port, the traffic of cargo in both directions increased significantly. Even now there is a high demand for the route through the Kuryk port,” the official said.
At the same time, the official said passenger air flights were closed due to coronavirus outbreak, which affected cargo transportation via air, as the majority of it was transported via passenger flights. Currently air cargo transportation is only available by ordering a charter flight or if there is space left on regular cargo flights.
The ministry also said that due to the need to comply with sanitary and epidemiological procedures during road transport, transport companies are faced with certain restrictions, which may affect the timing and cost of transportation.
Thus, railway transportation currently is the safest and most stable way of transporting goods, in particular when using containers.
Commenting on the issue whether the closure of air traffic between the countries affected the volume of cargo transportation, the ministry official said that only a small amount of goods used to be transported by air between countries due to well-established road and railway routes, as well as a relatively short distance.
“Thus, only expensive goods used to be transported by air, as well as goods requiring urgent delivery, which only allows for 2-3% of the total volume of cargo transportation. As a result, even the complete suspension of air cargo transportation would not have a significant impact on the overall cargo transportation tonnage,” the official said.
At the same time, official said, market conditions, the restrictions imposed by the countries on export and import of goods during the pandemic have had greatest influence on the traffic volume than the transportation restrictions. (Trend/Business World Magazine)