The Azerbaijani authorities’ investments in transport speak from themselves about the importance shown to this sector which helps the economy grow, both nationally but also regionally and internationally. Thus, on the short term (2010-2015), the Government plans to grant an additional USD 13 Billion to the construction of the rail and road infrastructure, including ports. Also, to facilitate transport on the east-west and north-south axes, USD 3.8 Billion are to be invested jointly with international organizations.
As the freight volume doubled in 2000-2009, from 80 million tonnes (2000) to 190 million tonnes in 2009, 47.4 million tonnes of which were shipped on TRACECA Corridor, the Azerbaijani port of Baku grows in importance for international traffic. With a capacity of over 25 million tonnes of freight, the International Port of Baku (Azerbaijan) – Baku International Sea Port- is a key point in the transit of trade goods from Europe to Asia.
For boosting activity and increasing freight volumes, the Ministry of Transport in Azerbaijan plans to move the port to another location by 2014, 65 km away from Baku, in Alyat. The new location is at the junction of two major transport corridors: East-West and North-South, an area where the Azerbaijani railway and road networks intertwine.
“Azerbaijan has a favourable location in transport structures being a real hub in the Black Sea and Caspian Sea region and also an important Eurasian link. The new port of Baku is a complex project to be implemented in three stages”, declared Ziya Mammadov, Minister of Transport.
The new International Port of Alyat will be built in three phases on a total surface of more than 400 hectares, 100 of which will be dedicated to the international logistics centre. In the first phase, the construction project cost is USD 726 Million. Development works were initiated at the end of 2010.
As for the freight volumes, in the first phase the volume estimated to be shipped through the port by 2014 is 10 million tonnes of goods and 40,000 TEUs, in the second phase the volumes will amount to 17 million tonnes and 150,000 TEUs, while in the third and last phase to 21-25 million tonnes and 1 million TEUs.
The new port will help improve container transport on the TRACECA Corridor and will also contribute to the development of the new transport mode and logistics services for increasing the attractiveness of the TRACECA route and reduce travel time and costs.
The attractiveness of the port will help develop the business sector, which in turn will boost the opportunities of the transport hub in the Caspian region. By facilitating intermodality and the development of container transport in the Caspian region, the port will help develop logistics centres in Central Asia, as well as terminals in Iran and Russia, thus triggering the development of the entire European transport sector.
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