ArmInfo. For the first time, a container train departed for Georgia from the Gansu province in north-central China. This was reported by newsgeorgia, referring to the statement of the Georgian Embassy in the PRC. According to the source, the rolling stock left the city of Uwe on December 4, and should arrive in Tbilisi after 10-12 days.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry noted that container rail transportation from Gansu will be carried out regularly both in the direction of Georgia and to other European countries.
During the departure ceremony of the first train, Ambassador of Georgia to the PRC Archil Kalandia emphasized the strategic importance of the project, pointing out that the latter will contribute to the development of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Corridor and positioning Georgia as a regional trade, transport and logistics hub.
The source notes that in recent years China has been the main export partner of Georgia, ahead of neighboring Russia and Turkey. The reason for this rapid growth was the free trade agreement between Georgia and China, which entered into force on January 1, 2018.
To note, according to the Analytical report of EAEU "Analysis of existing international transport corridors passing through the territories of the Union member states", the delivery time for containerized cargo from China to the EU by sea reaches 60 days, while the average duration of delivery of the same cargo by the EAEU railways does not exceed two weeks. At the same time, there are already services that provide transportation across the territory of the EAEU within a week.
To recall, the South Caucasian Railway (SCR) carries out international multimodal and container transportation (using rail, water, road transport).
In order to maintain competitive conditions for the delivery of goods, together with the Georgian Railway, in 2020, SCR extended the through tariff rates for the transportation of grain cargo and meal from the terminals of the port of Poti, as well as for the transportation of 40-foot containers as part of an accelerated container train. The conditions for running an express container train between Yerevan and the ports of Poti and Batumi have been preserved. The delivery time for goods on this route is 30 hours, and the tariff rates are lower than the freightage for the carriage of goods as part of a regular freight train by 30% for 20-foot containers and by 52% for 40-feet containers.
