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Middle corridor moves
The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), the so-called Middle Corridor, has big plans for ramping up intermodal traffi c. Oleksandr Gavrylyuk reports
In the fi nal days of 2021, Baku, Aktau and Turkmenbashi, the respective key Caspian ports of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, announced the integration of their individual information systems into a single PCS (port community system) platform.
Taking into account the geographical location of Baku in the South Caucasus and both Aktau and Turkmenbashi in Central Asia, the action of the three ports represents more than just a desire to connect the Caspian Sea’s western and eastern shores. It is seen as a starting point for a wider network.
“In addition to the Central Asian countries, we are planning to integrate our information systems with those of European ports,” explains Khudayar Hasanli, Head of Strategic Planning and Development Division, Port of Baku, confirming the wider ambitions.
Also of note, earlier in December last year, the OPEC Fund for International Development approved a US$45 million loan to Turkmenistan for the further development of its merchant fleet. The project will see construction of three new ships, including a trans-Caspian rail ferry, a bulker and a passenger vessel. This will reportedly help improve the utilisation of the Turkmenbashi seaport, which is part of the Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia (TRACECA).
TRACECA was initiated by the three South Caucasian (Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan) and five Central Asian (Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan) nations in 1993. It aims to develop freight flows from Europe across the Black Sea, the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea to Central Asia. The concept enjoys technical assistance from the EU and is reflected in recent initiatives. The Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey have also joined the project..
In 2014, key transport agencies of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Georgia set up a consortium to develop the intermodal carriage of goods under the so-called Middle Corridor or Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR).
Under the project, East-West traffic originally went through a number of loading and unloading operations, changing ferries, railcars and bulkers before being finally delivered from Georgia’s Black Sea harbours of Poti and Batumi to European destinations.
The situation changed dramatically in October 2017 with the launch of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) rail line. Linked with Turkey’s Trans-Anatolian Railway, BTK has significantly simplified the delivery scheme, reduced its cost and expanded volume.
CHINA CATALYST
The rapid progression of China’s export ambitions and deployment of its Belt and Road infrastructure in the same period contributed much to the development and extension of TITR to the Far East and even Southeast Asia.
A number of block trains were run on a test basis to connect Chinese cities with Asia Minor and Europe via the Middle Corridor and proved able to cover the distance within just 12 days. China Railway Express, a transcontinental service started in 2019, helped double the annual volume of containers railed via TITR in just a year, from 15,000TEU in 2018 to 30,000TEU in 2019.
While the global pandemic crisis of 2020 reduced by a quarter the cargo volume moving via TRACECA, the Middle Corridor saw the launch of new block trains. Effectively, the suspended operations of some of its key Pacific harbours forced Beijing to pay increasing attention to overland routes.
The major challenges of the post-pandemic year 2021, such as the Suez Canal accident and soaring prices for transocean container shipping, have only served to enhance the Chinese interest in TITR. As per the data revealed by ADY Container, the Azerbaijan Railways’ subsidiary involved in the TITR project, during the first ten months of 2021, rail container traffic along the route rose by 13 per cent year-on-year to 66,878TEU.
As Beijing is set to deepen its involvement in the Middle Corridor, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan seem to be the main beneficiaries of the process. Accordingly, the two countries have been heavily investing in the development of relevant infrastructure.
On 10 December 2021, Aktau welcomed the one-millionth transit container running through Kazakhstan. Brought by a train from the city of Xian in Central China, it was subsequently shipped onboard a feeder ship to Baku and then railed to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Mersin.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan has constructed a new international seaport at Alat, some 60km south of Baku, featuring the ferry terminal linking it with Turkmenistan (since 2014) and Aktau (since 2017). With the projected construction of new container handling and logistic facilities, Alat is expected to add a free trade zone. Additionally, should Azerbaijan gain access to its Nakhichevan exclave, via a narrow strip of Armenian territory (the so-called Zangezur corridor), it would be able to rail cargoes to Turkey. This would automatically raise its competitiveness as a transit nation, underlines Baku-based analyst Khazar Akhundov. Furthermore, informed sources suggest Azerbaijan could be in position to expand its transit traffic by up to 40 per cent over the near term if it manages to cooperate with its partners in setting up a single managing company coordinating their efforts in conjunction with international transport projects.
8 The Trans-Caspian
