ASTRAKHAN, July 24. /TASS/. The Fesco Transport Group is considering the possibility of opening a container terminal in the port of the Astrakhan region to serve the growing cargo traffic of the North-South international transport corridor. According to a press release on the company's official website, this topic was discussed at a meeting of Andrey Severilov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fesco, and Igor Babushkin, Governor of the Astrakhan Region.

"The Group is open to dialogue to develop logistics in the region, in particular we are interested in creating a modern container terminal in the Caspian Sea. Fesco sees the significant potential and role of the Astrakhan region in the development of the North-South international transport corridor, which is now acquiring key importance for Russia's foreign trade relations," Severilov said.

The intergovernmental agreement on the creation of a multimodal North-South transport corridor was signed by Russia, India and Iran in 2000. Later, the list of participants expanded to 14. The goal of the project is to attract the transit of cargo flows from India, Iran and the Persian Gulf countries through Russian territory to Europe. Compared to the sea route through the Suez Canal, the distance is more than halved, which reduces the time and cost of transportation. Now the project combines several different transport systems of individual states. India has invested about $2.1 billion in the project, some of these funds were invested in the construction of transport infrastructure in Iran.

The Fesco Transport Group is one of Russia’s leading privately-owned transportation and logistics companies with assets in the areas of port, railway and integrated logistics businesses. The group's production assets include its own advanced fleet, container and special equipment fleet, Vladivostok Commercial Sea Port, diversified rolling stock fleet, Fesco dry ports, and specialized vehicle fleet.