October 21-22, 2020, field sessions of the Working Group of Legal Entities "International Association "Trans-Caspian International Transport Route" (TITR Association) held in Istanbul (Turkey).
Despite the challenging environment, given the COVID-19 pandemic, freight traffic on the Middle Corridor route has not stopped or been interrupted this year.
During the meetings of the Working Group on the development of TITR, the participants discussed the current status and safety measures taken along the route, analyzed technological indicators such as the timescale of container trains, single and group shipments along the Middle Corridor. The results of the Association's activities for 9 months of 2020 and the report on the implementation of the transportation plan along the TITR route were also considered. The volumes of freight traffic along the route showed a slight slowdown in the achievement of 2020 planned indicators of transportation for TITR, while for some items there is an increase that exceeds initial expectations. Export shipments of cargo from Kazakhstan 10% higher than the planned volume, in particular due to an increase in paraxylene shipments by 77%, as well as cargos that not previously been transported along the TITR route, such as aluminum to Turkey, benzol to the Netherlands and Algeria. In addition, there was a 52% increase in transit cargo in containers, including strategic for Middle Corridor direction China – Europe by 33% and attraction of non-ferrous metals from Uzbekistan to Turkey on the TITR route.
The Association, together with its members, continues to actively work to improve the technology of the transportation process on the TITR route. The participants of Working Group meetings agreed on amendments to the current Agreement on the organization of container traffic in direct international rail and water communication with the participation of feeder vessels between the ports of Aktau and Baku. Also at the meeting discussed in detail and approved further work plans on the project Technology for organizing the transportation of containers (single, group) along the TITR route using feeder vessels in the direction from Turkey / European countries to Kazakhstan / Central Asian countries / China.
Since the beginning of 2020, the Association has held five meetings of the Working Group on the development of TITR, three of which, due to the pandemic, were held online.
THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION «TRANS-CASPIAN INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORT ROUTE»