Makhachkala port seeks Russian transport hub role in the Caspian Sea

only ice-free port of Russia in the Caspian Sea. One target is to attract additional traffic in oil, grain, and fish and improve the Dagestani economy and local socio-economic development. General Director of the Makhachkala Sea Trade Port, Murad Khidirov, said that the port can receive oil tankers with a carrying capacity of 13,000 tons but the insufficiency depth of canals limits ship transport to 8,500 tons. Dredging is required to increase the volume of oil and oil products transhipment by 2 million tons annually without a capacity upgrade. The volume of cargo transhipment in the Makhachkala Port for the first six months of this year increased by 20.4%, compared to the same period of 2019. Moscow wants a transport hub in the Caspian Sea to challenge developments in other littoral states as it seeks a stake in the cargo transit business between Asia and Europe, which is manifested in various international transport corridors which form part of the new Silk Road. Azerbaijan has already developed Baku into a regional transit hub with facilities in place to receive cargo ships from Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, and rail connections to tranship cargo to Black Sea ports in Turkey and Georgia, and then onwards to European markets. Kazakhstan has invested in Aktau port and Turkmenistan in Turkmenbashi port. As a result, all three countries are active in international transport corridors. Any development of Makhachkala port will have to be matched by land transport infrastructure, roads and railway lines, to connect the port with northern Russian ports and the country’s Black Sea ports of Novorossiysk and Sochi. Copyright (C) PortSEurope. All Rights Reserved. 2020.