Capacity Building Workshop on Facilitation of International Railway Transport

18-19 December 2018 , Bangkok, Thailand

China - FTA

EFTA – FTA

Turkey - FTA

CIS - FTA

EU - DCFTA

US, Canada, Japan - GSPA

Very simple and service oriented customs policy and administration

80% of good free from import tariff

No quantitative restrictions or tariff barriers

Source: Geostat.ge; * - preliminary data

Trade Agreements

Railway-based Multimodal Transportation

Containerization

Regular Block Trains

Focus AreasFreight Transportation

Infrastructure SBU

Freight

SBU

Passengers

SBU

Corporate Structure

Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan founded Association which offers single tariff across the Middle Corridor

One-stop shop service for customers

Transit time from Lianyungang to Georgia is 12-14 days in comparison with at least 45 days via the sea route

Transit time from Khorgos to Poti is 10 days

Distance from Khorgos to Poti4434 km.

BTK line opened in 2017

Iran, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine and Poland sides elaborated new tariff policy for the development of South-West Route.

Cargo flow between Iran and EU: 20 million tons

Cargo transportation by sea from the Persian Gulf and the region of India in the direction of Europe requires 30-40 days.

vs

Transportation by railway based multimodal transportation about 12 days.

Lianyungang-Baku/Tbilisi/Poti/Istanbul

Lead time – 12-13 day

Lianyungang - Istanbul Lianyungang - Poti

Lead time – 17-18 day

Lianyungang - Tbilisi

Lead time – 13-14 day

Schedule: 8th, 18th and 28th of every month

On November 28, 2018, at 15:00 Beijing time the block train has departed from the Kazakh-Chinese logistics terminal in the port of Lianyungang (China).

The first shipment formed by twenty-one FEU container with machinery and equipment, electronics and consumer goods.

Regular Block Trains

1,936,311

1,103,239

2,679,969

4,977,914

Local Export Import Transit

Freight Turnover Split

Total Freight Volume – 2017 (tons)

47%

18%

10%

25%

Target: • Scheduled trains between Georgia ,Turkey, EU and China • Balancing westbound and eastbound cargo flow• Optimization of procedures and reducing transportation time

Georgia Azerbaijan Central Asia China BTK

2017 6468 5161 1331 198 110

2018Jan-Sep. 7895 9761 709 976 2921

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

TEU

Cargo Forwarding by Directions in TEU

Railway border crossings

Turkish BorderArmenian

Border

AzerbaijanBorder

Gardabani

Tbilisi

KhashuriZestaponi

Samtredia

Batumi

Poti

Kulevi

Sukhumi

Russian Border

Senaki

Marabda

SadakhloAkhalkalaki

Turkish Border - Station: Kartsakhi

Armenian Border - Station: Sadakhlo

Azerbaijan Border - Station: Gardabani

Rail freight under customs control

In the custom checkpoints of"Gardabani", "Sadakhlo", "Poti" -stationary X-ray scanners areinstalled for railway transport.

Processes after arriving at a railway border crossing: • Commercial handover from one railway to another; • Technical handover, including dealing with break of gauge;• Customs formalities;• Border guard and immigration formalities; • Other government agencies formalities

Commercial handover from one railway to another - CIM-SMGS consignment note or a consignment note mutually agreed among the railways.

Since September 2015, in Georgia data on cargos are transmitted electronically.

Railway border crossings

• Implementation and training of staff-CIM/SMGS

• Extension of scope of CIM/SMGS countries

• EDI- Electronic Data Interchange systems are not widely used, particularly between countries with different gauges.

CIM

SMGS

CIM-SMGS

• Georgia – Azerbaijan railway border crossings – electronic consignment note

• Georgia – Turkey railway border crossing -paper-based consignment note

“Improving Freight Transit and Logistics Performance of the Trans-Caucasus Transit Corridor – Azerbaijan and Georgia”

Prepared for: World Bank Group

Issue Identification:

The lack of information regarding various regulations on transportation, customs and tariff structure create significant barriers for both existing players and new entrants.

The lack of cohesive information sharing is slowing down logistics and customs clearance processes.

Action:

Corridor Management Information System (CMIS) in order to offer a single window for commercial, operational and financial purposes.

Information flow and access to transport-related data

Issue Identification:

Despite recent improvements, the Corridor users associate queues, delays and unpredictability with the customs clearance procedures. Azerbaijan customs have made a number of improvements in recent years, including simplification of procedures and electronic customs declarations, however there is still way for improvement.

Action:

In June 2018 the President of Azerbaijan issued a Decree which outlines a plan for making improvements in customs import and export operations, such as introduction of a “one stop shop” procedure.Develop a single customs area, streamlining customs procedures and minimizing delays at the border

Customs Clearance Process

“Improving Freight Transit and Logistics Performance of the Trans-Caucasus Transit Corridor – Azerbaijan and Georgia”

Prepared for: World Bank Group

Strategic Target:

Closer collaboration between customs authorities _ Work together to ensure transparent, predictable and customer-friendly procedures

Actions:

→ Action : Improve information exchange between customs authorities → Action : Capacity building in improved customs procedures → Action : Development and implementation of a “green corridor” for transit freight (at

ports, at borders)

Summary

16

Providing freight transportation under the custom control

The departure station or border station transmits the following data using the freight transport operating system (RAPL):

– Bill number;

– The code of the country that issued the road list;

– Type of shipment (wagon and container);

– Border checkpoint;

– Border point of departure;

– Name and code of the Sender;

– Recipient's name and code;

– Wagon number;

– Container number and container;

– Name, code and weight of the cargo;

– Departure station;

– Destination station.

Advantages

• Increased safety;

• Acceleration of custom control procedures

• Reducing the complexity of operations

• Effective custom control.