During the visit of the Minister of Transport and Communications of Kyrgyzstan Tilek Tekebayev to Turkmenistan, the countries discussed the possibility of opening a new international multimodal corridor to Russia through the Caspian Sea, reports the press-service of the Minister of Transport and Communications of Kyrgyzstan.

The overland part of the new route will run from Kyrgyzstan through Uzbekistan to the Turkmenbashi International Seaport in Turkmenistan. Then, it is proposed to transport cargoes by sea to the Russian port of Astrakhan.

As per the words of the Minister of Transport and Communications of Kyrgyzstan Tilek Tekebayev, the Russian side is ready to provide ferries for this transport corridor.

“Initially, it is planned to send 50-60 vehicles daily from the Turkmenbashi port to the port of Astrakhan. The second stage is the cargo transportation to the port of Turkmenbashi, loading of semi-trailers on the ferry, delivery to the port of Astrakhan without a tractor, hooking of semi-trailers, sending cargo to the destination and reloading according to the same scheme. The third stage is container transportation, in which the Russian side proposes to use the port of Makhachkala”, the Minister said.

The Turkmen side supported the idea of organizing the new route and said it was ready to consider preferential rates for port services for transit cargo.

Annadurdy Kosayev, the head of the Agency for management of sea and river transport of Turkmenistan “Türkmendeňizderýaýollary” suggested several alternative routes for the delivery of goods. The Turkmen side proposed a variant where the Kyrgyz side will be able to charter a ferry and transport your cargo on it. There is a possibility to use bulk carriers for cargo in “pallets” and “big bags” and for this there are access roads and places for unloading from vehicles and further loading on bulk carriers.

At the Turkmenbashi sea port there are warehouses for the customs transit goods, with a storage period of up to 3 years, which can be used by Kyrgyz road carriers. Moreover, it was said that the Kyrgyz carriers can transport cargo by automobile to the Uzbek-Turkmen border and there transship it to railway containers and delivery to Turkmebashi, where all conditions for reloading from railway transport are available.