A new fertilizer transshipment terminal in Azerbaijan’s Caspian Sea port of Baku is now expected to start operations this year, according to the country’s Report news agency, citing Baku International Sea Trade Port CJSC Head of Strategic Planning and Development Department Khudayar Hasanli.
Construction began in June 2021, and the new facility had been targeted originally to be commissioned by the end of last year (GM June 16, 2021).
The new fertilizer terminal will have capacity to handle 2.5 million mt/y. The project plans include two warehouses with a total capacity of 60,000 mt.
Baku port will be able to attract more fertilizer cargo once the new terminal becomes operational, according to Hasanli.
The port currently handles fertilizers produced in Turkmenistan, but it is planned to transship sulfur, urea, and fertilizer-grade ammonium nitrate from other countries in Central Asia, including Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, via the new terminal, said Hasanli, as cited by the report. Like Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan are landlocked countries.
The three countries have a combined production capacity for various fertilizers, including urea, sulfur, and potassium carbonate, that exceeds 6.6 million mt annually, according to a Port of Baku June 2021 press release.
Baku International Sea Trade Port handled 6.31 million mt of cargo last year, a 14% increase over 2021’s throughput, according to Hasanli, as cited by another Report article.
According to the Strategic Planning and Development Department head, some 90% of the cargo transshipped at the port of Baku is transit cargo. Last year, some 53% of the cargo transshipped at Baku port – or nearly 3.4 million mt – was transported from Turkmenistan ports, he said.