Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are exploring a project to build ferries capable of carrying up to 120 railway cars at once. This was announced on Thursday by Kasym Tlepov, Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Railway and Water Transport of the Ministry of Transport of Kazakhstan, during an online event held by the World Bank Group titled "Middle Corridor: The Next Stage."
According to Tlepov, the existing ferries used for transportation between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan can carry significantly fewer cars, which forces trains to be split.
"The current ferries, ferry services are operated today by Asco, can take a maximum of only 44 cars. And accordingly, the train is divided: 44 cars are loaded in Kuryk and delivered to Alat. Then the next ferry goes to Kuryk, picks up the remaining 15-20 cars there. These 44 cars wait in Alat, and as a result, efficiency drops," he said.
Tlepov noted that Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are considering the construction of new ferries that would allow two trains to be transported simultaneously.
"We have now come to understand that the Caspian Sea should not be a sea dividing us; it should be a connecting bridge. And together with our Azerbaijani colleagues, we are now working on a project to build ferries that can carry 120 railway cars at once. That is, two trains will be picked up immediately. This will ensure seamless transportation and significantly reduce port handling time, by almost three times. Overall, this will affect the speed of delivery along the entire route," he said.
According to Tlepov, Kazakhstan also intends to expand private sector participation in maritime transportation through a financial leasing program.
"We are now giving our businesses the opportunity, through the introduction of a financial leasing program, to provide cheap loans and invest in the purchase of vessels for maritime transportation. That is, not only the two national companies, Kazmortransflot and the Azerbaijani company Asco, will be engaged in transportation, but private businesses can also carry out container transportation. We want to give them access," Tlepov noted.
