Caspian and Black Sea basins in the focus of transport geoeconomy
Recent international events, in particular the withdrawal of the United States from the nuclear deal with Iran and subsequent economic sanctions will affect the distribution of traffic flows in the Persian Gulf, Caspian and Black sea basins. Arguments on this topic were set out in the article “Sanctions on Iran May Foster Alternative Trade Routes”, published on the portal of a major American business magazine “Maritime Executive”.
The Caspian and Black Sea, connected by the Volga-Don Canal, may become one of the alternatives to commercial shipping in the Persian Gulf, where several ship transport companies that also sail to American ports, have chosen to suspend transportation services to and from Iranian ports, the article writes.
The navigation channel connecting Volga flowing into the Caspian sea and Don flowing into the Black sea has several locks in Russian Volgograd and several more locks in the dock with the Don. The Black Sea, in turn, opens the way to the Danube river and the Mediterranean sea.
The Danube river, being the second longest river in Europe after the Volga, serves as a transport link between several European economies and has historically been the most important trade artery. In addition, Russian navigable rivers flowing into the Black sea connect several Russian and European cities.
The combination of American trade sanctions on Iran and European nations seeking to disregard those sanctions places higher emphasis on improving navigation between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea, says the publication in “Maritime Executive”.
In addition to the Volga-Don Canal, lowland between the Caspian Sea and the Sea of Azov is ideal for the construction of a direct channel, a kind of equivalent to Suez Canal. According to the author, the economies of Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan will also benefit from such a navigation solution.
Perhaps, this point of the narrative requires some explanation and comment. Probably, the matter is the project "Eurasia", which implies the creation of water transport connection between the Caspian Sea and Azov-Black Sea basin south of Volga-Don Canal and 1000 km shorter than the latter. The idea has been discussed with varying intensity for several years between China, Russia and Kazakhstan.
The project was touched upon several days ago in Sochi during the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council. Undoubtedly, the Eurasia channel can open an excellent access for all Central Asian countries to the waters of the world ocean. It is also clear that it will take some time to launch the project in reality.
Meanwhile, on the coast of the Caspian Sea, important part of modern Eurasian traffic system - modernized Turkmenbashi sea port have been materialized. One of the points of the Turkmenistan's transit and transport agenda is the creation of the most favorable conditions for reaching the Black Sea, the European countries, the Baltic Sea terminals, the Middle East, South Asia and the Asia-Pacific region, in order to bring trade and economic cooperation between the countries of Asia and Europe to a qualitatively new level. And, the steps purposefully undertaken by Turkmenistan on the radical upgrade of this sea port clearly demonstrate the move from conceptual idea to deeds.
With regard to transport communications between the Black and Caspian seas in general, they are not limited to the water format, but rather have a multimodal nature. The space between the two seas, literally, is cut with lines of road, rail routes of the international corridor between Europe and Asia TRACECA. Most of these routes are functioning and developing logistically.
The foundation for trade and transit prosperity in Eurasia, including through the routes of the Caspian and Black Sea basins, laid long ago, in the era of the Great Silk Road. And the transport boom observed today is reincarnation of this network, bolstered by geo-economic urgency and occurring in parallel to geopolitical events.
