Thousands of trucks bound for the countries of Central Asia are stuck in the Caspian Sea port town of Alat in Azerbaijan because of border closures applied by war-hit Iran.

Truckers normally enter northern Iran from Turkey and, keeping to a route south of the Caspian Sea, journey on to Turkmenistan, from where they can reach any of the other four countries of Central Asia by land, explains a report published by Radio Ozodi on April 16. With Iran presently not an option, the truck drivers can only get to Central Asia by arranging passage across the Caspian from Azerbaijan.

The media outlet’s report said that some Tajik traders and drivers who transport goods and products from Turkey and Europe to Tajikistan stated that they had been waiting to cross the Caspian Sea for six weeks.

Samandar, a Tajik businessman, was quoted as saying that the reason for the huge traffic jams seen in Alat was that hundreds of trucks were trying to access ferries or large ships all at once and there was not sufficient vessel capacity to quickly take so many vehicles with large volumes of cargo.

"Before, trucks from Europe and Turkey would cross the Iranian border and get into Turkmenistan by land. This road has been closed and everyone wants to use the sea crossing. There are three ferries here a day, and they can probably carry up to 100 trucks. Every day, maybe 300-400 more trucks arrive. So everyone is waiting for their turn," he said.

Local reports from across Central Asia describe how consumer prices are on the rise, partly due to shortages of goods on shelves linked to the difficulties faced by such truckers.