Uzbekistan is interested in having its own ships on the Caspian Sea

“Uzbekistan is interested in having its own ships in the Caspian”, – Bekzod Kholmatov, director of the Center for the Study of Transport and Logistics Development under the Ministry of Transport of Uzbekistan, said, the correspondent of Dunyo news agency reports referring to the Azerbaijani news agency “Report.az”.

Bekzod Kholmatov stressed that the presence of own ships on the Caspian Sea would contribute to the growth of traffic along the Trans-Caspian route. “Uzbekistan is also interested in participating in shipbuilding projects together with Azerbaijan”, – he said. “Tashkent is ready to cooperate with other countries in this matter”.

According to him, work is underway on the construction of its own terminal in the Baku port.

Uzbekistan is one of two countries in the world that belongs to the category of “double locked countries”. This means that you need to cross at least two state borders to get to the oceans.

At the same time, the Deputy Minister of Transport stated that importers from Uzbekistan are interested in cooperation with the Baku port and aim to either rent a mineral fertilizer terminal on a long-term basis or invest in its creation. “Now this issue is being studied, work is underway to prepare a feasibility study”, – he said.

It should be noted that in 2022, the volume of export-import cargo transportation from Uzbekistan through the Baku port amounted to 904,000 tons, which is 65% more than in 2021. The volumes of transportation of food cargoes, including raw sugar, mineral fertilizers and containers, have noticeably increased.