HIGHLIGHTS
- Turkey aims to transit “30% of cargo via Russia and the Northern route to the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Corridor (BTK) and the Kars Logistics Center via Turkey.”
- Adil Karaismailoğlu, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, said that as of November 19, 2021 there were a total of 1,262 trains, 26,214 containers and 1,419,686 tons of goods on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line.
- The Kars Logistics Center was built to handle commodities moved on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway while taking full use of the Silk Road’s logistics benefits.
FULL ARTICLE
Increased rail transportation investment
The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway opened in 2017 boosted freight trade from many Asian nations to European countries. Trains from Beijing to London have started trade and routine logistics operations.
Turkey aims to convey “30 percent of the capacity in the corridor passing through Russia, which is the northern corridor, to the middle corridor passing through Turkey”. As a result, the country will raise its investment in rail transit by 60%, and the delivery of commodities on the high-speed trains under construction will begin shortly.
According to Turkey’s Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Adil Karaismailolu, the flow of commodities on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway has been increasing and has achieved an impressive milestone. On this route, as of November 19, 2021, a total of 1,262 trains, 26,214 containers, and 1,419,686 tons of cargo were carried on the BTK railway line.
Kars Logistics Center aims to resurrect the Silk Road
The Kars Logistics Center is one of the strategic projects aimed at luring freight traffic from the new Silk Road via Turkey. It was established with the intention of processing freight on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway and capitalizing on the logistics advantages of the Silk Road.
Furthermore, the Kars Logistical Center was developed to reinvigorate the historic Silk Road and to become an important logistics center for shipping with Russia and Central Asian countries. As a consequence, the center will be constructed along the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, which connects Asia and Europe. This logistics center covers an area of 400,000 square meters and can transport more than 400,000 tons of cargo. There are now 19 railway lines connecting to the Kars logistics facility, guaranteeing reliable cargo transit.
The facility had received 349 trains and emptied a total of 417,000 tons of freight as of November 2021. Turkey has not reached its aim, but it has demonstrated its will to put its name on the “New Silk Road” map, attracting the flow of goods from Russia to Europe as well as transit trains and specialized services between Turkey and China.
Freight not only helps Turkey increase its logistics revenues, but it also leads to additional services and other items supporting the sector along the Silk Road that passes through its territory.
Huyen Tu
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