The Baku International Sea Trade Port expects the volume of its cargo transportation this year will exceed the indicators of previous years, the head of the Press Service of the port Elmar Habibli told Azerbaijan-based Trend news agency.
Despite the negative impacts of COVID-19, the port increased its cargo transportation indicators by 20% in 2020 compared to 2019, the spokesperson noted.
He added that the port last year recorded record-breaking performance compared to the last 30 years in the field of transshipment of large vehicles (TIR) and containers.
"In 2015, the cargo turnover of our port amounted to over 3.059 million tons, in 2019 - 4.057 million tons, and in 2020 - 4.85 million tons. The indicators of 2020 compared to those of 2015 indicate an increase in cargo turnover by 59%," Habibli said.
The spokesperson added that 43,208 thousand TIRs passed through the port through two Ro-Ro bridges last year, which is 28% more than in 2019. 65% of these TIRs were transported in the Baku-Turkmenistan-Baku direction, and 35% - in the Baku-Astana-Baku direction.
He noted that the port also has a terminal with the capacity to handle 100 thousand Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit (TEU) containers annually.
"Last year alone, our terminal handled 40.345 thousand TEU containers, which is 15% more than in the previous year – 35.152 thousand TEU containers," Habibli told in an interview.
The Baku port last year handled 711.706 thousand tons of dry cargo, which is 2.8 times more than in 2019 and 3.5 times more than in 2015.
