The volume of cargo transportation through the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway has exceeded 1 million tons since its commissioning in 2017, the Turkish state media outlets reported on Tuesday citing Turkey’s Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoglu.
In an interview with the media outlets, Karaismailoglu noted that out of the total cargo transported, 393,000 tons account for Turkey’s exports and 614,000 tons for Turkey’s import shipments.
The Turkish Minister also emphasized that transit transportation holds an important place in Baku-Tbilisi-Kars import shipments, adding that work is underway to eliminate all obstacles in terms of infrastructure, technical and customs procedures to ensure the smooth and economical transportation of exports, imports and transit cargo along this route.
Highlighting the importance of railways in ensuring continuity of trade during the global COVID-19 pandemic, Karaismailoglu said the BTK railway and Middle Corridor remain the most advantageous routes for maintaining trade between Asia and Europe.
Furthermore, he stated that the volume of cargo transportation via the BTK line increased by 19% in the first five months of 2021, compared to the same period of last year.
During the period, 280,878 tons of cargo were transported along the route. Growth was also recorded in Turkey’s cargo exports via BTK, directed to Georgia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, China, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. During the period, export freight traffic on the BTK amounted to 64,378 tons.
Karaismailoglu noted that Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, China and Azerbaijan lead in export shipments.
The BTK line, launched in October 2017, connects Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia, establishing a link between Europe and China.
