Caspian countries use all reserves to increase cargo turnover
August 07, 2018 | 10:07 |279
It seems that the opening of the new international sea port of Turkmenbashi has mobilized the Caspian states to increase the volume of cargo turnover in the Caspian basin. So, in the second decade of August, it is planned to open a regular automobile ferry service through the Kazakhstan port of Kuryk, located 100 kilometers from the international seaport in Aktau. A regular ferry service from the port of Kuryk is planned to be organized to the ports of Turkmenbashi (Turkmenistan), Olya (Astrakhan, Russia) and Enzeli (Amirabad, Iran). The construction of the port Kuryk began in April 2015, and the facilities of the first launch complex of the port - the railway ferry terminal - were put into operation on December 6, 2016. The port is intended for transshipment of grain, oil products, fertilizers, chemicals and other cargo to the neighboring states of the Caspian region. In January-June, 2018, the volume of cargo transportation through the port of Kuryk was 856 thousand tons, while the designed capacity of the port is 6 million tons. To build up the port operations in the port of Kuryk, the railway line Borzhakty-Ersai is laid. The ferry and the railway line will provide multimodal transportation of cargoes, which will allow to significantly increase transit cargo traffic and increase the export potential of the Caspian ports. Investment development of the Caspian Sea port infrastructure indicates that by 2020 the countries of this region will increase the capacity of their ports by one and a half times. Transit and transport potential of the Caspian Sea has significantly increased with the opening in May of this year of new "sea gates" of Turkmenistan in the Caspian Sea and the promotion of a number of Turkmen initiatives in this area. One of the important undertakings of Ashgabat is the proposal to organize transport and transit corridors between the countries of the Caspian, Black Sea and Baltic basins. The key to the success of this Turkmen initiative is the use of all the port resources of the Caspian states.Nury AMANOV
