New single operator would help develop Turkmenbashi-Olya ferry line - port general director
ASTRAKHAN. April 24 (Interfax) - The creation of a single operator would significantly increase cargo loads on the Turkmenbashi (Turkmenistan) - Olya (Astrakhan) ferry line, Alexander Melnikov, general director of the Olya Commercial Sea Port said.
"Today there is no regular shipping service between Turkmenistan and Astrakhan. There are occasional calls by ships, but they are quite sporadic, maybe two or three per quarter. However, according to the international freight exchange, over 100 trucks travel from Uzbekistan to Russia and Belarus every day. Our Kyrgyz partners say they have 40 road trains per day traveling to Russia. You have to agree, that's already a fairly significant cargo flow; it is practically a ship loaded with 3,000 tonnes every day," Melnikov said during the "Transport Logistics of the Caspian Region 2024" forum in Astrakhan on Wednesday.
He said that this cargo flow could be transported by ferry if a regular service between Turkmenbashi and Olya is established.
"Today, in my opinion, we have all the infrastructure resources we need to designate and secure vehicle ferry transportation along this southern route. There are truck terminals in the port of Turkmenbashi and truck terminals in the port of Olya, two here and two there. However, there is no single operator who can coordinate this entire cargo flow, including loading of ferries, traffic schedules, returning the vehicles for return loading, and so on (...). In order to do this successfully, a national carrier must be created," he said.
"If in past years the Volga-Caspian Shipping Canal did not allow for fully loaded ferries; they could be loaded at 50%, now this problem has been solved, and they will be fully loaded. All the necessary conditions are there for success on this southern corridor. Having secured this route with our colleagues, it will be possible to talk about the next stage of development, the creation of transport and logistics centers in the Astrakhan region, and the launch of some container lines," Melnikov said.
As reported, the season's first ferry on the North-South International Transport Corridor (ITC) arrived from the port of Turkmenbashi at the port of Olya in April 2024, carrying 40 trucks with fresh tomatoes. The Astrakhan region's Industry Ministry said at the time that the region's port infrastructure was ready to receive all types of ships and additional volumes of cargo from Turkmenistan.
The Olya seaport is located 100 km south of Astrakhan in the Volga River delta, on the 67th km of the Volga-Caspian sea shipping canal. It is a universal port for the transshipment of general, container and ferry cargo and occupies a key position at the intersection of the transport flow connecting Russia with Iran, the countries of the Middle East and India, and the transport corridor to Kazakhstan, China, and the countries of Central Asia. The port's throughput capacity is 4.37 million tonnes of cargo per year.
The ports of Astrakhan and Olya handled 929,000 tonnes of cargo in the first two months of 2024, which is double the figure for the same period last year.