An alternative railway corridor for transporting grain cargo is the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway line, according to the Transport Corridor Research Center Grain Logistics review.
The document reads that Azerbaijan-Russian Company AzRusTrans CJSC, which was founded in 2016, aims to transport grain to Russia, Iran, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey; grain to Georgia is set to be transported via the BTK corridor.
According to the Transport Corridor Research Center, 2 million tonnes of grain cargo is planned to be transported by 3,500 grain carriers by 2020. Today, AzRusTrans CJSC owns 500 grain carriers. Additionally, a grain terminal is intended to be built at the border of Azerbaijan.
The center informs that annually, Russia exports four mln tonnes of grain to Turkey, out of which 1.5 million tonnes are transported to Turkey's eastern regions.
Grain was first transported in July of 2018, with 12 railway carriages used to transport grain cargo from the railway station of Seda at the Russia-Kazakhstan border via the BTK corridor to the Akhalkalaki municipality and Kars afterward. To Akhalkalaki, the tariff totaled USD 73 per tonne, while USD 100 to Kars.
According to the Transport Corridor Research Center Grain Logistics review, the agreement on the transportation of 400 thousand tonnes of grain cargo from Russia to Turkey via the BTK railway line is yet to be concluded.
