Baku port and OSCE launch ports project

Baku, Azerbaijan (Ports Europe) March 16, 2020 - Baku International Sea Trade Port (Port of Baku) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have launched the "Promoting Green Ports and Connectivity in the Caspian Region" project. At a working group meeting, attendees, which includes public and private transport companies in the country, Thomas Kargl, member of the oversight board of the Rail Cargo Group, a subsidiary of ÖBB (Austrian railways) shared opinions on the company's activities and increasing freight traffic. They also exchanged views on the development of the Trans Caspian International Transport Route (Medium Corridor). There is a demand to transport 1.5 million containers a year in the East-West direction, and the number of containers transported between Europe and China is 600,000. This year, the Chinese government plans to transport 150 trains from Xi'an to Europe via the Baku Corridor through the Mediterranean and Turkey. Thomas Kargl, Board Member of ÖBB division Rail Cargo Group(RCG), said that the first test train launched from Xian via the Middle Corridor in October 2019, was successful and shows the competitiveness of the middle corridor. Therefore, Rail Cargo Group together with the Port of Baku plan in 2020 to launch new products from Europe through the Port of Baku to Central Asia and China and vice versa. RCG believes that the Middle Corridor has huge potential for substantial and regular cargo flow from Europe to China and vice versa. He is also informed that in the coming years, the number of freight moving from Europe to Asia and vice versa will increase, making the corridor more competitive. An Austrian railway official said the launch of the customs warehouse at the Baku Port in the coming months would serve the interests of large transnational companies operating in the Caspian Sea. The next meeting of the Working Group will be attended by leading logistics and transport companies working in the transport sector of Europe, Turkey and Kazakhstan. It is expected that the participation of these companies will make Azerbaijan an important logistics and distribution centre between Europe and Asia, and increase the competitiveness of the route it passes through. Following the event, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Port of Baku and Rail Cargo Group was signed by Taleh Ziyadov, Director General of Port of Baku, and Thomas Kargl, Member of the Supervisory Board of the Rail Cargo Group. Director General Taleh Ziyadov said: “Baku Port, which has an important geographical location between Europe and Asia, continues to attract leading European companies to the Middle East. The Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Rail Cargo Group will increase the competitiveness of the Middle Corridor and provide Azerbaijan with the leading European destinations.” Thomas Kargl said that in October 2019, a test drive from Xi'an reached the Czech Republic in 18 days. “In this regard, the Middle Corridor is quite competitive. As Rail Cargo Group, in the first half of 2020, with the agreement reached with the Baku Port, we will now ship the first test train from Venlo to the Netherlands, with the passing of the Baku Port. We believe that there will be a regular flow of freight from Europe to China and vice versa”. Also, following the meeting of the Working Group established for the implementation of the project "Promotion of green ports and connectivity in the Caspian Sea", a protocol on further steps to be taken by the Rail Cargo Group was adopted. On November 26, 2019, Azerbaijan Railway signed an agreement with Austria's Rail Cargo Group and the Netherlands' Carbooter Group to strengthen and expand freight traffic from Europe to Central Asia and China. Under the agreement, which aims to increase freight traffic from Europe to Central Asia and China, the first test train is expected to depart from the Netherlands in Venlo in the first half of this year, first to Turkey (Istanbul), Azerbaijan (Baku Port), and then to China. The Rail Cargo Group, a subsidiary of ÖBB, has an annual turnover of €2.3 billion and carries around 130 million tons of goods a year. The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), also known as the Middle Corridor, combines the countries participating in the new Silk Road project and important players of the region. Its members are leading maritime and transport companies from Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, China and Turkey. The organisation aims to popularise the middle corridor, accelerate and simplify cargo transportation procedures between Asia and Europe, and make special preferential tariffs. Between East and West, in terms of cargo, the middle corridor helps to compete with the north-south routes. TITR allows European companies to bypass Russia, which until now sanctions the transit of certain types of goods through the country. A number of Russian entities are under sanctions from the international community following Russia’s annexation of the Crimea in 2014. The importance of this route was underlined with the inclusion of Georgia and Azerbaijan in the European Union (EU) TEN-T network. Copyright (C) Ports Europe. All Rights Reserved. 2020.

Baku port and OSCE launch ports project

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Baku port and OSCE launch ports project

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