Last year, the Baku International Trade Sea Port CJSC (Port of Baku) has demonstrated following growth of its performance: total throughput grew by 14,6%; dry cargo handling by 66%; and, container transportation by 11,6%. This has exceeded the forecasts and amounted to 104% of the forecasted volume, says Port of Baku.
The observed increase of cargo volume, including growth of containerized cargo can be regarded as a bolstering of transit capabilities of Azerbaijan, and along the corridors crossing Azerbaijan connecting it into the international logistics.
As an important chain in the Transcaspian International Transportation Route, the Port’s total handling volume has reached 5,6 million tons, which is 14,6% more than that of 2020. Over 5,1 million tons or 92,7% out of total handling volume is transit cargo. This indicator is the result of interest to the international transportation corridors going through Azerbaijan.
During the reporting period, one of the biggest growth indicators is in the area of dry cargo handling. The total volume of general cargo handling was 711 thousand tons at the Port of Baku in 2020, and it has increased by 66% in 2021 exceeding 1.18 mln tons (infographics 2).
As compared to 2020, there was a growth of 11,6% in 2021 in container handling reaching 45,025 TEUs .
Another importance case of growth is observed in the volume of crude oil and oil products handling at the Dubandi Oil Terminal. In 2021, the volume of crude oil and oil products handling has increased by 2,3 times in comparison with 2020 and exceeded 1.1 million tons.
It should be noted that ongoing limitations imposed on borders due to the COVID 19 pandemics in 2021 have brought some supply chain disruptions along international transportation routes. Thus, during the reporting period, there was a decrease of 8.8% in transportation of long-haul trucks. 39,341 (TIR) trucks were transported via the Port of Baku and 23,476 (59,5%) vehicles out of that number were bound for Baku-Turkmenbashy-Baku, and 15,955 (40,5%) – Baku – Kuryk – Baku.
At the same time, 18.7% contraction is observed in railroad cars handling in the Ferry Terminal. Last year, the number of railroad cars transported via the Port of Baku was equal to 30,426 and 20,867 out of that number were bound for Baku-Turkmenbashy-Baku (68,6%), 9,559 railroad cars were bound for Baku-Kuryk/Aktau-Baku (31,4%). It should be noted that Although A decline is observed in transportation of long-haul trucks (TIR) in 2021, compared with the year of 2020, it grew by 17% in comparison with 2019. Despite some decrease in percentage in the areas mentioned above, overall, total handling volume has increased.
In general, results obtained at the Port of Baku have been positive in the year of 2021 exceeding the forecasts by 4% set previously for last year. The growth of handling volume at the Port of Baku is linked to the rise of non-oil GDP of Azerbaijan, and it contributes to the capabilities of Azerbaijan as trans-logistics hub in the region.