WB: Trans-Caucasus Transport Corridor can become global route

In order for the Trans-Caucasus Transport Corridor (CTC) to become a global logistics corridor, freight services will need to be developed to attract freight, the World Bank (WB) told Report.

As containerized cargo is the future of global trade, investment is needed in dedicated container vessels, logistics platforms, information technology tools linking operators or transport systems, building capacity, and facilitating trade. The creation of the Corridor Management Information System is also essential to offer a single window for commercial, operational, and financial purposes, the bank said.

“As WB noted, the enhanced intermodal connectivity along the corridor requires improving ports’ intermodal infrastructure in the Caspian and Black Seas and reconfiguring the existing infrastructure to meet the container block train operation requirements (block length, passing sidings, speeds, etc.). Also, despite the large investments into East-West corridor infrastructure in Azerbaijan and Georgia, neither upgrading railway nor road segments of the corridor, including upgrading railway signaling and power transmission in Azerbaijan are still not completed. Completing these investments is critical for full functionality of the corridor, noted the bank,” the WB added.

The needed customs improvements involve the introduction of streamlined customs procedures including information flows, moving to a one-stop-shop procedure, and the eventual development of a “green corridor” for transit freight that would allow transit freight to bypass customs checkpoints at borders.

“Improved maritime connections in the Black and Caspian seas require sufficient maritime capacity for the transit container freight along the CTC, optimization of operations to minimize delays in ports and en-route, exploring the introduction of the incentives for on-time delivery and penalties for delayed delivery,” said the bank, adding that the enhanced performance of CTC also requires expansion of physical capacity of logistics infrastructure, such as logistics centers, as well as improved human capacity and skills, including the establishment of logistics-focused educational and training programs and collaborative efforts with international academic or professional institutions in transport and logistics studies.