In March 2017, Militzer & Münch opened a representation in Azerbaijan. Business is doing well: different industries are already relying on Militzer & Münch‘s Middle East expertise to import their products to the landlocked country in the Orient.

Nijat Shabanly and Nasimi Mammadov represent Militzer & Münch in Baku. About six months after the office was taken into operation, Nijat Shabanly looks back on a successful initial period: “So far, we’ve handled groupage transports form Germany, Italy, Belgium and Turkey”, he reports. “But we also had a full truck load transport from Germany and a refrigerated shipment from the Netherlands.” Among the handled goods are products for the food industry, the baby care- and the cosmetics industries, as well as goods for the construction and medical engineering sectors.

By now, Militzer & Münch Azerbaijan was able to realize even more transports – for example full truck load shipments with equipment from Rotterdam, Netherlands, and from Heinsberg, Germany, to Azerbaijan. The team also successfully works in air shipments and collaborates with Militzer & Münch offices in Istanbul, Frankfurt, Hannover and Balice (Poland).

First project

The two employees in Azerbaijan already handled a big project successfully as well: they organized the transport of tiles in 41 containers from Foshan, China, to Baku. The boxes went via sea from Foshan to Poti, Georgia. From there, the freight was hauled via road to the destination in Baku. Total transit time was 40 days.

The two Militzer & Münch representative’s confidence about the future is owed to big infrastructure projects in Azerbaijan: the international Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway project, the new port of Baku, and the new railway connection between Baku and the Iranian border.

The BTK railway project was launched to directly connect Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan can be connected to the new railway as well via the Caspian Sea. The official opening ceremony took place in the end of October.

“These projects will positively impact the logistics landscape in our country”, says Nijat Shabanly. “We are confident that Militzer & Münch will benefit from them, and that we can soon offer our customers additional destinations. These infrastructure projects will also contribute to turning Azerbaijan into an important transit country.”