Tag Archives: logistics

Turkmenistan Airlines to lease first Boeing cargo jet

JUNE 22 (The Bulletin) — Turkmenistan Airlines will lease its first Boeing 777F, a cargo plane. Media reported that the deal will cost Turkmenistan Airlines an estimated $352m to lease the aircraft from Frankfurt-based Aircraft Finance Germany. The high cost highlights the growing importance of the Europe-Asia cargo business that airlines in Central Asia are competing for.

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— This story was first published in issue 451 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, published on June 23 2020

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2020

Turkmenistan opens border with Iran

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JUNE 20 (The Bulletin) — Turkmen officials allowed 30 trucks stuck in Iran for 2-1/2 months after the country was closed as part of Turkmenistan’s push to incubate itself against the spread of the coronavirus to cross the border. According to media reports, Iranian officials are still waiting to process 740 more trucks that have been stuck at the border since April 1.

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— This story was first published in issue 451 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, published on June 23 2020

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2020

Kazakhstan and Iran sign deal to build Special Commercial Zone in Aktau

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FEB. 25 2020 (The Bulletin) — Kazakhstan and Iran signed a deal to build a joint special commercial zone in Aktau that will be aimed at helping shift goods between Iran and Central Asia. Media reports said it will cost around 15m euros to build the 5 hectare site in Aktau. Relations, and trade, between Iran and Central Asia have been increasing over the past five years. Kazakhstan’s main exports to Iran are barley, wheat and rolled iron. Iran sends pistachios, dates, apples, plastics, tableware and meat processing equipment to Kazakhstan and Central Asia.

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— This story was first published in issue 438 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2020

Georgia gives Anaklia partners more time to name financers

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DEC. 17 2019 (The Bulletin) — Georgia’s government extended to Dec. 31 a deadline for the partners developing the Anaklia port on the Black Sea to submit new loan agreements after they missed a Dec. 16 deadline. The Anaklia was supposed to be the biggest infrastructure project built in Georgia, opening it up to more East-West cargo traffic, but instead each side has accused the other of undermining progress. The partners are TBC Holding, the US’ SSA Marine, Britain’s Wondernet Express and Bulgaria’s G-Star.
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— This story was first published in issue 432 of the weekly Bulletin on Dec. 27 2019

Georgia and Azerbaijan to build new terminal at Batumi port

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AN. 14 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia and Azerbaijan will jointly fund the construction of a new terminal at the Georgian city of Batumi on the Black Sea, media reported. The terminal will specialise in the loading and unloading minerals and fertilisers and add to the ports of entry and exit for goods moving across the South Caucasus. Reports said that US companies Wondernet Express Investments and Trammo will also invest in the project.
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>>This story was first published in issue 397 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 20 2019

Turkmenistan allows Tajik trucks to cross to Afghanistan

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OCT. 4 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan has allowed Tajik trucks to cross its territory after a month-long delay, media reported. No explanation was given for the delay but the row had threatened to damage Tajik-Turkmen relations. At one point, the Tajik ambassador in Ashgabat had said that his government would stop cooperating in a high-profile joint railway project linking the two countries to Afghanistan. The Tajik trucks had been carrying goods to and from Afghanistan.

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>>This story was first published in issue 388 of The Conway Bulletin on Oct. 17 2018

Yandex Taxi to expand in Uzbekistan

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SEPT. 25 (The Conway Bulletin) – Yandex Taxi said it wants to expand its services into secondary Uzbek cities after successfully launching in Tashkent. Quoting a senior official at the company, media reported that Yandex Taxi had asked the Uzbek government for help in mapping Samarkand, Bukhara, Urgench and Andijan before extending taxi services.
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>>This story was published in issue 387 of The Conway Bulletin on Oct. 1 2018

Afghan rail link via Turkmenistan to is on, says Tajikistan

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SEPT. 25 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan’s government said that a project to link up Afghanistan and Tajikistan with an 80km railway through Turkmenistan was still ongoing despite news reports quoting the Tajik ambassador to Turkmenistan saying that it had been cancelled. Turkmenistan and Tajikistan have rowed over the past few weeks over delays at the Turkmen border for Tajik trucks trying to cross to Afghanistan. This has fuelled speculation that Tajik-Turkmen relations and joint projects would be damaged.
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>>This story was published in issue 387 of The Conway Bulletin on Oct. 1 2018

Azerbaijan to finance train line to Iran

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SEPT. 21 (The Bulletin) — Azerbaijan agreed to lend Iran $500m to complete a railway line between Rasht and Astara, north Iran, that it deems essential for a North-South Transport Corridor that should, according to the plan, transport products from India to Russia by sea and rail. The rehabilitation of relations between Azerbaijan and Iran have been key to getting this project off the ground.

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— This story was first published in issue 344 of The Conway Bulletin, now called the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on Sept. 24 2017.

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2017

Tajikistan cancels licences for international courier agencies

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DUSHANBE, JUNE 19 2017 (The Bulletin) — International courier companies DHL, TNT, UPS and Pony Express are still waiting to be granted operating licences, nearly two weeks after the government suddenly ordered them to stop work.

The authorities told four of the world’s biggest courier companies that they needed to apply for a new licence to continue operations on June 7, but despite consultations and attempts to talk to the authorities none of the companies have yet been able to re-start work.

“We have no idea why this happened so suddenly. We have been working in the country since 1995, and never faced such an issue,” said an employee of UPS in Dushanbe. “We still have not heard anything from the communication services. Most probably the government is trying to popularise Pochtai Tojik [the Tajik Post Office], and remove competition.”

The row is a reminder of the fragile nature of doing business in Tajikistan. At the beginning of the year the government slapped a back-tax fine on mobile operator Tcell just as Sweden’s Telia was trying to sell its 60% stake in the company. Telia accused it of trying to interfere and profit from the sales process.

On the courier companies, the state-run news agency Khovar said that the companies would be able to apply for a new licence if they wanted to return to work.

“The law must be respected. If the above-named companies appeal to the Liaison Service for registration of their license, after a positive decision they will be reopened,” Khovar quoted an unnamed government source as saying.

But an employee of TNT said that getting a new licence wasn’t quite as simple as the Tajik authorities appeared to make out.

“Work in our office has stopped since June 7 and no comments are even made at these days,” she said.

“We applied for the license but there has been no result on that.”

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(News report from Issue No. 333, published on June 19 2017)