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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000106 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN; EEB; NEA/IR 
COMMERCE FOR DSTARKS/EHOUSE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ETRD EAIR ELTN EWWT EINV BTIO IR TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN'S UNDERDEVELOPED TRANSPORT SECTOR 
 
ASHGABAT 00000106  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified.  Not for public Internet. 
 
¶2. (SBU) SUMMARY:  Private transportation companies in 
Turkmenistan reported gradual growth in 2008-2009 in the 
country's trucking, railway and maritime sectors.  Despite 
this growth, transportation companies acknowledged serious 
infrastructure shortcomings in all three transport sectors, 
especially in rail and maritime.  Industry reps opined that 
the commercialization and enhancement of transportation 
services is inevitable, given the growing demand to move cargo 
to and through Turkmenistan.  While the government officially 
supports the idea of modernizing the country's transport 
sector, it has not, to date, invested the amount necessary to 
update its inadequate infrastructure.  END SUMMARY. 
 
CARGO TRUCKS 
 
¶3. (SBU) Trucking is the primary means of freight transport in 
Turkmenistan.  The country's cargo truck fleet is 
comparatively small, but growing.  Private Turkmen transport 
companies told us that 45 twenty-ton payload trucks enter 
Turkmenistan daily through two of the crossing points on 
Turkmen-Iranian border.  The majority of these trucks will 
return to Iran with international cargo bound for points other 
than Iran.  Transshipment takes place at either the Iranian 
seaport of Bandar Abbas or the Iranian land cargo terminal of 
Mersin on Iranian border with Turkey.  The number of trucks 
bound for the Iranian market is lower.  Since there are no 
centralized trucking terminals in Turkmenistan, truck drivers 
generally pick up shipments at individual vendors.  As a 
result, it takes 3-5 days for drivers to complete their loads. 
Seasonal goods, like cotton exports in the summer and fall, 
and fruit and vegetable imports in the fall and winter, also 
affect the number of cargo trucks. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Despite having a Free Transit Trade agreement with 
Iran, Turkmenistan in 1998-99 introduced a transit tax on 
Iranian and other foreign trucks, reportedly to compensate the 
government for their use of Turkmenistan's highways.  Iran 
reciprocated the move.  Truck drivers from both sides pay 
about 150 USD for entry and road use permission. 
 
¶5. (SBU) There are currently around fifty to sixty transport 
and expeditor companies in Turkmenistan, the majority of which 
are foreign.  On paper, the Ministry of Automobile Transport 
acts as the expeditor for cargo transport via truck throughout 
the territory of Turkmenistan.  In practice, private agents 
expedite nearly the entire process. 
 
RAIL TRANSPORTATION 
 
¶6. (SBU) The primary responsibility of the Turkmen Ministry of 
Railways is to provide and maintain cars and locomotives. 
Private transportation companies handle nearly all other 
railway services.  A current shortage of diesel locomotives 
and cars hinders rail transport growth.  A representative of 
the Swedish company Trans Eurasia Holding told economic 
assistant that Turkmen government views the inadequacies of 
the country's railways seriously.  The government recently 
announced a tender to purchase new railroad boxcars and diesel 
locomotives in order to increase cargo capacity through 
Turkmenistan to onward destinations. 
 
¶7. (SBU) The Trans Eurasia Holding rep told us that the 
southeastern border crossing with Uzbekistan at Farap receives 
around 3,000 rail cars a month (Note: 50 tons is the standard 
payload for each car. END NOTE.)  He added the Sarahs (Iran- 
Turkmenistan border) border crossing receives around 2,000 
cars monthly.  There is a wheel-change terminal at Sarahs to 
adjust Turkmen cars, which use the old Soviet gauge system, to 
 
ASHGABAT 00000106  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
the Iranian gauge system and vice versa.  According to Turkmen 
transportation experts, the Turkmen Railway Ministry faces a 
problem with the slow return of cars from Iran, and some 
Turkmen rail cars reportedly "disappear" once they enter Iran. 
The Russian rail network links Turkmenistan and Europe, and 
Asian companies with warehouses in Finland reportedly make 
faster deliveries through Russia to Central Asia than from 
their facilities in northern China.  Transportation experts 
cite the absence of private railway companies in Turkmenistan 
as the primary reason for the lack of infrastructure 
improvement and commercial progress. 
 
MARITIME TRANSPORT 
 
¶8. (SBU) The primary Caspian seaport in Turkmenistan is 
Turkmenbashi.  In the country's maritime transportation 
sector, the major constraints are limited technical 
infrastructure and a shortage of vessels.  Existing ships, for 
example, can only make short trips along the coast; they are 
not equipped or maintained to sail across the Caspian to Baku, 
Azerbaijan.  Turkmen ships regularly sail to the coastal oil 
terminals at Cheleken and Ekerem.  It is estimated that annual 
oil shipments from Turkmenbashi, Ekerem, and Cheleken are 
about two million tons.  The Azerbaijani-operated ferry 
service between Turkmenbashi and Baku allows access for 
Turkmen railways to the Georgian seaports of Poti and Batumi. 
The ferry delivers around 30,000 tons of railway cargo to 
Turkmenistan monthly; many U.S. shipments to Central Asia use 
this route.  No official data on the volume of maritime 
transportation is available, but experts believe it to be 
relatively small. 
 
¶9. (SBU) COMMENT: Given Turkmenistan's geographic location 
along natural transport routes through Central Asia and to 
points beyond, it has the potential to greatly increase its 
role as a regional transport hub.  The lack of investment in 
transportation infrastructure is the main obstacle to 
developing the sector.  Privatization of the country's 
transportation sectors would be a potentially viable solution, 
but only in the long-term given the predominant role of the 
state sector in government policy.  END COMMENT. 
 
CURRAN