Seaborne traffic via North-South ITC to reach 8 million tonnes by 2030, and 20 million tonnes by 2050, official says
The growth of shipping volume on the Caspian Sea requires building at least 50 ships in the future
Seaborne trade along the North-South International Transport Corridor (ITC) is planed to be increased to 8 million tonnes by 2030, and to 20 million tonnes by 2050, an official said.
“Our task is to ensure the functioning of this route and transportation, first of all, through the construction of modern river-seagoing mixed class merchant ships. According to estimates, to transport 8 million tonnes щт the Caspian Sea, we need to build about 20 ships, 10 of them container ships, and in the future at least 50 ships will be required,” said Viktor Evtukhov, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation speaking at a meeting of the Council for the Development of the Transport Complex in the Subjects of the Russian Federation under the Federation Council.
“The task is absolutely feasible, and Russian shipyards have accumulated competencies to solve it,” Viktor Evtukhov is quoted as saying on the Federation Council’s website.
Valentin Ivanov, Russian Deputy Minister of Transport, speaking at the meeting, said that systematic work is being carried out to develop three routes of the ITC, including in terms of their promotion among government agencies and shippers of the countries of the Caspian Basin, the Persian Gulf, Central, South, and Southeast Asia, as well as the African continent.
“For our part, in terms of developing transport infrastructure, we are modernizing the ports of Makhachkala and Olya in Astrakhan Oblast, dredging work in the Volga-Caspian Sea Shipping Canal. Rosavtodor is carrying out major overhaul of the Caspian and Caucasus highways, which provide access to the ports,” he said.
The North-South Transport Corridor is a 7,200-km transport artery stretching from St Petersburg to ports in Iran and India. North-South ITC has a western and an eastern branch, both running across Iran. The western one foresees cargo transportation by road via Rasht, the eastern one – by railway. The Port of Bandar Abbas is the end point in Iran from which freight can be delivered to India by sea-going transport. The western branch also crosses Azerbaijan, the eastern one – Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. Besides, direct seaborne traffic from Russia to Iran by the Caspian Sea is also possible.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin has said that cargo traffic along the North-South ITC should double by 2025 to 30 million tonnes, and by 2030 – to 35 million tonnes.
