YEREVAN (Novosti-Armenia), May 29–The leading Armenian international freight forwarding company Apaven along with Russian shippers from the company  TransContainer developed a multimodal scheme of Armenian-Russian cargo transportation through Georgia, according to the director of Apaven, Gagik Agajanyan.

“For large bulk transportation, when the quantity of goods will be such that the use of motor vehicles will be impractical, we have developed another scheme that interests both Georgian Railway and South Caucasus Railways, Agajanyan said.

“By using vehicles on a small portion along a 200 km road from the Vladikavkaz container terminal to Tbilisi, we connect the two railways,” he said.

Aghajanyan also noted that this scheme is agreeable to the Georgian side, which is extremely interested in increasing the volume of its railways.

On May 24, the Upper Lars checkpoint on the Georgian-Russian border opened to heavy vehicles. The passage serves as a main transit route between Armenia and Russia.

TransContainer, a subsidiary of Russian Railways, started doing business in July, 2006.

Armenian Railways is now under the management of South Caucasus Railways per a concession contract signed in early 2008. The term of the contract is 30 years, with the right to a 10-year extension.

Translated from Russian by Yerevan Report