Freight transportation along "Tashkent-Andijan-Osh-Irkeshtam-Kashgar" corridor begins
17/02/2018 12:15
Sahib Saifnazarov
17/02/2018 12:15
Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Transportation of cargoes via the new transport corridor "Tashkent-Andijan-Osh-Irkeshtam-Kashgar" begins. This was announced during a briefing in Tashkent.
Products of exporters of Uzbekistan and neighboring countries will be delivered to consignees by vehicles of Silk Road International LLC.
Upon arrival at the final delivery point, the city of Kashgar, the vehicles will depart on the return route already with imported products.
The new "Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan-China" automobile corridor was initiated by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev during his State visit to the People’s Republic of China in May 2017, during which an intergovernmental agreement was signed on international road transport between the two states.
"Realization of this project gives an opportunity to auto carriers to carry out regular cargo transportation through the territories of three countries," said Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade Sahib Saifnazarov in his speech. "This will have a positive effect on the volumes of mutual trade turnover and will allow us to fully utilize the existing transit potential of Uzbekistan, China and Kyrgyzstan."
As part of the implementation of this agreement, a pilot car rally on the route "Tashkent - Andijan - Osh - Irkeshtam - Kashgar" was organized from 30 October to 3 November 2017, with the participation of vehicles from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and China. The distance totaling 920 kilometers was overcome in 31 hours, of which 16 hours passed in motion.
The average speed of the convoy was about 50-60 km / h. The time of the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border "Dustlik" took about 1.5 hours, the Kyrgyz-Chinese border "Irkeshtam" about 2 hours.
The road passing through the urban settlement of Sary-Tash and the Irkeshtam pass in Kyrgyzstan (at an altitude of more than 3,500 meters above sea level) is the shortest automobile route from the Ferghana Valley of Uzbekistan to China.
"In general, this route showed that the road surface along the entire route, that is, through the territory of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and China, meets the established standards for the movement of mainline cargo vehicles," said Shoalim Shavahabov, deputy head of UzAART.
At the end of January 2018, all organizational and technical issues related to the opening of regular road transport of goods along the route "Tashkent - Andijan - Osh - Irkeshtam - Kashgar" were agreed between Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and China.
To date, the Uzbek Agency for Road and River Transport (UzAART) has prepared and sent to the Chinese and Kyrgyz sides forms of transportation permits (500 each).
Also on 5 February, the joint venture Silk Road International LLC was established to organize the transportation of export-import cargoes along the new transport corridor Tashkent-Andijan-Osh-Irkeshtam-Kashgar.
Currently, the company has 80 trucks and plans to increase their number up to 200 units by the end of 2018. In perspective, based on the volume of cargo transportation, the number of vehicles involved will increase.
It is expected that over 100,000 tonnes of export-import cargoes will be transported via new route by the end of 2018.
Currently, there are applications for the transport of foreign trade goods for 27 thousand tonnes for three months in advance. These are products of the textile, leather and agricultural industries, as well as imported products of the electrical engineering industry, engineering, etc.
As Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade Sahib Saifnazarov noted: "Great interest in the new route is primarily connected with the minimum terms of delivery of goods. If the cargo was shipped from Uzbekistan to China in 8-10 days according to the earlier acting corridor, then it takes only 2 days via the new route. Along with this, if necessary, an urgent cargo can be delivered within 24 hours. "
In addition, the cost of transportation is an important factor. So, the developed flexible transparent system of tariffs for transportation of containers and modular cargoes allows to save from US$300 to US $500 for delivery of each consignment, which as a whole allows to reduce expenses by about US$2.5 million per year and will undoubtedly affect the cost of production and its competitiveness.
To create additional conveniences for consignors and consignees of the republic, a multimodal transport and logistics center has been created in Andijan region on the basis of the terminal of the station "Akhtachi", allowing cargo to be transported from all corners of Uzbekistan to Andijan by rail and then to China by road.
The above measures serve as a basis for further cooperation of the countries of the region, including activation of the construction of the new Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan-China railway, which will create new transcontinental corridors "China-Central Asia-Caucasus-Europe" and "China-Central Asia-Afghanistan – Iran”. They will be shorter in comparison with the existing corridors for almost 1000 km.
In addition, the indicated route shows interest not only to domestic producers, but also to Afghan partners in the transportation of goods by rail from Mazar-i-Sharif to Andijan and further to China. With the construction of the new Mazar-i-Sharif-Herat railway (Trans-Afghan corridor), the transcontinental transport corridor "China-Central Asia-South Asia-Middle East" will be completed.
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