How is the ITC North-South developing?
According to First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov, by 2030 the volume of Russian cargo along the North-South corridor will almost double, from the current 17 million to 32 million tons. “But the main prospect, which will take on more than half of the increase, we see primarily in the western route passing through Azerbaijan,” he said. from the current 9 million tons to at least 15 million tons of cargo.”
Road transportation along the North-South corridor, Mr. Belousov said, is also growing. For six months, they amounted to 1.5 million tons, which is 1 million tons, or three times, higher than the level of the same period last year. On October 27, the Ministry of Transport announced that the general construction readiness of the first stage of the reconstruction of the Yarag-Kazmalyar automobile border crossing with Azerbaijan is 76%, the completion of the first stage is scheduled for the end of the year, the second - for the third quarter of 2023. Modernization of the border crossing will increase its capacity by almost three times - up to 1.4 thousand vehicles and up to 5.1 thousand people per day. Freight traffic has been opened through the Tagirkent-Kazmalyar-Khanoba border crossing with a throughput capacity of up to 200 trucks per day, and empty trucks are allowed to pass through the Novo-Filya-Shirvanovka checkpoint around the clock.
Azerbaijani Vice Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev said that Azerbaijan is actively developing the automobile infrastructure of the corridor on its territory. “We jointly completed the construction of a road bridge over the Samur River on the border between Azerbaijan and Russia,” he said. “The construction of a road bridge on the border with Iran has begun, and we expect its completion this year. The modern Baku-Astara highway was put into operation. This year, the overhaul of the old highway from Baku to the border with the Russian Federation is being completed, and by the first half of next year, the newest highway will be put into operation, which will connect the Russian border with Baku. And we get a link from the border with the Russian Federation to the border with Iran, which is about 500 km, and if heavy trucks could cover this distance in 12-14 hours, then after the delivery of the section from Baku to the border with the Russian Federation, this distance will take about seven hours.
The railway infrastructure of the North-South corridor is underdeveloped and not even continuous: the Rasht-Astara section in Iran, which has been under construction for many years, is missing. Trucks take the goods there. The cargo turnover of the North-South corridor is growing, but in separate sections. Thus, Russian Railways reported that in nine months, 5.3 million tons of cargo passed through the Samur-Yalama border crossing with Azerbaijan, which is 55% more than a year earlier.
The development of routes is much more active in the communication between Russia and Azerbaijan than through the border of Azerbaijan with Iran, where the cargo flow does not exceed 500,000 tons, and for Russia, work in the region is complicated by the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
?At the Eurasian Forum in Baku, First Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Belousov proposed to form a joint railway operator Russia-Azerbaijan-Iran on the western route of the international transport corridor North-South, which "will provide end-to-end service and a high level of logistics services."
Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation Valentin Ivanov added that it is planned to conclude an agreement with Iran and Azerbaijan on the organization of logistics services: “The subject will be a comprehensive service for the provision of forwarding services to customers of the participating countries in the “single window” format. This format includes the organization of foreign trade and transit transportation between the Russian Federation, Azerbaijan, Iran and third countries. The service will also provide for the payment of fees, freight charges, services for transit customs clearance, information support for transportation, services for loading, unloading and storage at railway terminals and other forwarding services agreed with the consignor.”
In Iran, the situation is more complicated. Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev said at the forum that according to the Baku Declaration, Azerbaijan set a goal to increase the volume of transit traffic along the western corridor of the ITC North-South to 15 million tons by 2030: “This is a very good figure, it concerns only rail transportation. Considering that only up to 500,000 tons of cargo is transported in this direction by rail with the help of the railway cargo terminal in Iran, which was built by Azerbaijan.”
The material was prepared on the basis of Kommersant publications.