The first container train from China arrived at Baku International Sea Trade Port in Alyat, Azerbaijan via the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), local media reported Tuesday.
The train consisting of 82 containers and 41 platforms departed from China on July 28 and arrived in Baku on Monday after traveling more than 4,000 km with a stop in Aktau, Kazakhstan.
Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Abid Sharifov emphasized the significance of the TITR for the whole region at the opening ceremony, and Askar Mamin, president of Kazakhstan Railways, also thought highly of the route's potential.
Mamin said that Azerbaijan Railways can gain profits worth 600-700 million U.S. dollars from transit traffic by 2020.
"Today a significant event took place. We believe this is the first sign of a larger project. We estimate its potential at over 300,000 containers by 2020," Mamin said.
He believed that the same container from China through Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan would be delivered to Georgia and Turkey in the near future.
During the first meeting of the Coordination Committee of the TITR in Baku in January 2015, the parties reached an agreement to organize a container service on the China-Kazakhstan-Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey route by using the new Zhezkazgan-Beineu railway.
The project envisages the involvement of transit and foreign trade cargoes, as well as the application of competitive single railway tariffs in order to increase cargo transportation.
The launch of this route will significantly improve the transit and export prospects of the member countries and increase the competitiveness of the TITR.
The Coordinating Committee of the TITR was established in October, 2013. The project is being implemented by Kazakhstan Railways, Azerbaijan Railways, Azerbaijan's State Caspian Sea Shipping Company and Baku International Sea Trade Port.
