ASTANA (TCA) — The first export containers have been transported by a feeder vessel from Kazakhstan’s Aktau seaport across the Caspian Sea to the port of Baku in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan’s national railways company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) said.
Containers of JSC KTZ Express (a subsidiary of KTZ) with Kazakh agricultural products were loaded onto the Azerbaijani feeder vessel “Mahmud Rahimov” and shipped to the port of Baku. Further by rail, the containers are delivered to the Turkish port of Mersin.
This is the first transportation of export containers with general cargo (grain, metals, etc.) from Kazakhstan by a feeder vessel through the port of Aktau.
The feeder vessel on the Baku-Aktau-Baku route will run regularly on a weekly basis. Along with Kazakhstan’s export cargo, transit cargo will be transported from China to Europe.
Thanks to the fruitful cooperation of the countries participating in the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, multimodal transport services link the countries of the Caspian region, Central Asia, China and South-East Asia with the Caucasus, Turkey and Europe.
The launch of a feeder service on the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route was discussed on March 30 this year in Baku, where the tariff rates for the transportation of cargoes across the Caspian Sea by feeder vessels for 2018 and the schedule of freight trains on the Trans-Caspian route were approved.
The use of a feeder vessel in the Caspian Sea will significantly increase the throughput capacity of the Trans-Caspian route and will contribute to the further development of containerization in the Caspian region.
