Azerbaijan's cargo transportation via TRACECA hits 13.6m tons

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

The volume of cargo transportation in the Azerbaijani section of the transport corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia (TRACECA) amounted to 13.6 million tons in the first four months of 2021, the local media source has reported.

It should be noted that there was a decrease in the cargo transportation volume by 14.1 percent compared to the corresponding period of 2020. The decrease in freight traffic is attributed to restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the reported period, 7.5 million tons or 55.7 percent of the cargo transportation was carried out by automobiles, 4.4 million tons or 32.5 percent by rail and 1.6 million tons or 11.8 percent by the sea.

Moreover, the share of transit cargoes in the total volume of freight traffic along TRACECA corridor amounted to 3.2 million tons or 23.7 percent during the reported period.

Earlier, it was reported that Azerbaijan and TRACECA have agreed on cooperation in the areas of expansion of the corridor geography and digitalization of the corridor, during the meeting held between Azerbaijan’s Transport, Communications and High Technologies Minister Rashad Nabiyev with TRACECA’s Secretary-General Asset Asavbayev. In addition, 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 Asia region (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan).