Georgian Railway launches freight services to Central Asia for car manufacturers
Georgian Railway on Thursday announced it was launching freight services offering car manufacturers to transport their products to Central Asian states. Photo: Georgian Railway
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Georgian Railway on Thursday announced it was launching freight services offering car manufacturers to transport their products to Central Asian states.
The company said manufacturers like Toyota, BMW and Audi would be able to deliver their vehicles via Georgia and Azerbaijan to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and other countries in the region using the rail service.
Until now, car manufacturers have been using [road] cargo to deliver their cars to Central Asia. As a result of the ongoing talks, rail freight of cars may [also] become regular”, it said.
Photo: Georgian Railway
The first shipment in the initiative was received at the country’s Black Sea port city of Poti and inspected by car manufacturers before its delivery.
Georgian Railway hit a “record-high” profit of ₾283 million ($106mln) in 2022, with the annual growth of its freight marking a 22 percent increase, Director General Davit Peradze told Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Friday.
Traffic flow at customs checkpoints across Georgia has increased "significantly", Georgian Finance Minister Lasha Khutsishvili said at an event dedicated to International Customs Day on Thursday.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Friday highlighted the importance of implementing joint projects with Azerbaijan at his meeting with President Ilham Aliyev in Baku.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Tuesday said while Central Asian countries agreed on the need to diversify and develop new routes, a “special attention” was paid to the transport corridor involving Georgia, in his highlighting of the importance of port, railway and other infrastructure for realising the country’s role of a regional hub.