Prospects to develop the international North – South transport corridor via the Caspian and the port special economic zone in the region were subject of discussion at the meeting of Alexander Poshivay, Vice Minister of transport, and Igor Babushkin, Governor of Astrakhan Oblast.
‘The future of the North – South transport corridor is container traffic, so container fleet expansion is needed, and we hope manufacturers of the region will take part in it,’ the press office of the regional government quotes Poshivay as saying.
According to Babushkin, the issue was already discussed with a working group of the State Council, and the region is ready to offer its facilities for container manufacturing. However, he said, to develop transportation via the North – South corridor, the Volga-Caspian Canal should be modernized.
The Canal needs dredging to increase the depth to 4.5 meters to allow of increasing freight traffic. At present, a dredging programme is being drafted, Babushkin added.