August Digest, Silk Road 2024

✔️In January-July of the current year, the container cargo transportation of the middle corridor increased 14 times compared to the same period last year. During the mentioned period, 2.5 million tons of cargo were transported by TMTM. According to the forecast of the Ministry of Transport of Kazakhstan, 4.2 million tons of cargo will be transported along the middle corridor this year. The Middle Corridor crosses China, Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and further European countries. The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line is part of the corridor.

✔️Armenia, Iran and India are planning to launch a new trade route. Representatives of all three countries will meet each other in the near future. It is already known that the meeting will take place on the territory of Iran. As for the route, it will pass from the port of Mumbai in India through Iran's Chabahar to the territory of Armenia and enter Georgia, from where the products will be sent to EU countries.

✔️Georgian shipping company E60 Shipping Line starts operating in the direction of Bulgaria after Romania. The company will start flights from Poti to Varna from the end of September. There are no plans to transport passengers to Varna, it will be purely cargo. After the start of Poti-Varna-Poti flights, E60 Shipping Line will also consider starting flights from Batumi sea port. Ferry traffic between Bulgaria and Georgia was carried out years ago, however, this is the first time that a Georgian company and a ship registered in the Georgian Maritime Register will serve the mentioned direction.

✔️ In the II quarter of 2024, the ports of Georgia served 2.6 thousand passengers, which is 2 times more than the indicator of the corresponding period of the previous year. In the II quarter of 2024, 4.235 million tons of cargo were processed in the ports and terminals of Georgia, which is 11.9 percent more than the corresponding period of the previous year.

✔️ Large Belgian company Jan De Nul was selected as the winner of the announced international tender for the implementation of marine infrastructure construction works of Anaklia deep-water port.

✔️In January-July 2024, the income from driving trucks in the transport corridor of Georgia has increased by 1% compared to the same figure in 2023. Accordingly, 102,822,973.00 GEL entered the treasury from the handling of trailers. 293,780 trucks crossed the corridor of Georgia in 7 months.

✔️Gas transportation through the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzrum gas pipeline increased by 5.4 percent compared to the same figure in 2023. And in July, 2.7 million tons of oil was transported through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which is a record figure for the year. During the first six months of 2024, more than 830 thousand tons of Kazakh oil were transported through the same pipeline.

✔️Slovenia joined Turkey, Georgia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Serbia and became the seventh country to purchase gas from Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR.

✔️In the II quarter of 2024, compared to the corresponding period of the previous year: the cargo transported by air transport of Georgia increased 4.6 times, and the volume of cargo turnover - 6.7 times; Passenger services at Georgian airports increased by 25.3% — passenger arrivals increased by 24.5%, and departures increased by 26.1%.

✔️In 2024, Istanbul Airport topped the list of "most connected" airports in the world.

AD Ports Group became the owner of 60% share of "Tbilisi Dry Port". According to the largest Arab corporation, the intermodal logistics hub will be put into operation in October 2024. The company hopes that in this way the role of the group in connecting Asia and Europe with the "Middle Corridor" will be further strengthened.

✔️ According to the research prepared by the Italian consulting company CESI, "The Black Sea Submarine Cable Project" is promising and feasible. The technical and economic study of the project will be carried out from 2022. Environmental and social impact and seabed studies will also be prepared, the implementation of which is planned for 2025-2026.

✔️ Kazakh carriers are interested in the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway route. In the joint statement of the representatives of the Kazakh transporters and the industrial sphere, it is written that "after modernization, the capacity of the BTK railway route will increase by 5 times. Electrification of the highway has been completed, and Akhalkalaki station has been reconstructed. The project was implemented at the initiative of Azerbaijan to increase transit by reducing the cost of transporting goods along the Middle Corridor. The BTK railway route will speed up the delivery of goods between Asia and Europe by bypassing the Black Sea ports and will become more economical compared to sea-road transport.

TRACECA.GE

Source: commersant.ge; bpn.ge; tbilisipost.ge; bm.ge; interpressnews.ge; businessinsider.ge