Trucks jam up in Azerbaijan

Thousands of trucks bound for Central Asia are currently stranded in the Azerbaijani port city of Alat after Iran closed its borders. Trucks normally travel from Turkey to northern Iran and then south of the Caspian Sea to Turkmenistan. From there, they can also reach the other Central Asian states by land, Radio Ozodi reported on April 16. As this route is currently not available, the drivers only have the detour via Azerbaijan and the crossing of the Caspian Sea. According to the broadcaster, some Tajik traders and drivers transporting goods from Turkey and Europe to Tajikistan have already been waiting six weeks for a passage. Tajik businessman Samandar explained that the long traffic jams in Alat were due to hundreds of trucks trying to reach ferries or larger ships at the same time. However, the available capacity was not sufficient to transport so many vehicles with large loads quickly. "Trucks from Europe and Turkey used to cross the Iranian border to Turkmenistan. This road is now closed and everyone wants to use the ferry connection. There are three ferries a day, each of which can transport up to 100 trucks. Around 300 to 400 more trucks arrive every day. So everyone is waiting to get through," he said. There are now reports of rising consumer prices from several Central Asian countries. One reason is said to be supply bottlenecks related to the ongoing difficulties in freight transport. The post Trucks jam up in Azerbaijan appeared first on ostwirtschaft.de.