Handling of general cargo in Makhachkala seaport has surged by 38% from the beginning of 2023, to 450 thousand tonnes, according to Dagestan Prime Minister Abdulmuslim Abdulmuslimov. According to him, commercial seaport of Makhachkala has been holding leadership among 15 Russia ports on the Caspian Sea, says press center of the Republic of Dagestan.
Makhachkala Commercial Sea Port is Russia’s only non-freezing deepwater port in the Caspian Sea able to accommodate vessels with length of up to 150 meters and draft of up to 4.5 meters. The port’s infrastructure comprises a dry cargo harbor with a transshipment facility capable of handling 3 million tonnes of cargo per year, berths for general cargo, dry bulk cargo and containers with annual capacity of 1.2 million tonnes, a Ro-Ro terminal with annual capacity of 1.3 million tonnes and a grain terminal with annual capacity of 0.5 million tonnes. The port links the transport system of Russia’s South with the states of the Middle Asia, Iran, Trans-Caucasian region, etc.
The volume of Russian cargo transported by the North-South ITC is expected to double by 2030, from the current 17 million tonnes to 32 million tonnes. The Baku Declaration dated 9 September 2022 states that the throughput capacity of the corridor’s western route is to increase from the current 9 million tonnes to at least 15 million tonnes by 2030.
North-South international transport corridor (ITC) is a 7,200-kilometre-long transport artery from St Petersburg to ports in Iran and India. North-South ITC has a western and an eastern branch, both running across Iran. The western one foresees cargo transportation by road via Rasht, the eastern one – by railway. The end point in Iran is the port of Bandar Abbas from which cargo can be delivered to India by sea. The western branch also crosses Azerbaijan, the eastern one – Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. Besides, direct water transportation from Russia to Iran by the Caspian Sea is possible.