Learn first: Industrial geography
Transport is the "circulatory system" of the economy: it links producers with consumers, regions with each other, and the country with the world market. The service sector (trade, finance, communications, education, health, tourism) is the fastest-growing part of the modern economy. Exams often ask about the pros and cons of transport modes, Uzbekistan's key transport projects, tourist sites and the calculation of freight turnover.
Key indicators:
Freight turnover (t·km) = cargo (t) × distance (km); passenger turnover is measured in passenger-kilometres
Comparing transport modes:
A transport hub is a place where several modes and routes meet (Tashkent is the country's largest hub).
Because the country has no access to the sea (it is doubly landlocked), rail, road and pipeline transport and transit corridors are crucial for Uzbekistan.
Railways:
Since 2011 — the Afrosiyob high-speed train on the Tashkent — Samarkand route, later extended to Karshi and Bukhara
2016 — the Angren — Pap railway and the Kamchik Pass tunnel (about 19 km, the longest rail tunnel in Central Asia): the Fergana Valley was linked to the rest of the country without crossing a neighbouring state
Road transport handles most domestic freight and passenger traffic; international highways connect the country with its neighbours.
Pipelines distribute gas within the country and carry exports; the Central Asia — China gas pipeline (since 2009) crosses Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
Air transport: Tashkent International Airport and the airports of Samarkand, Bukhara, Urgench, Termez and Fergana; Navoi is an international air-cargo hub.
Urban transport: the Tashkent Metro (since 1977, the first in Central Asia) and a new surface ring line.
Promising transit corridors: the China — Kyrgyzstan — Uzbekistan railway project, the Trans-Afghan corridor (Uzbekistan — Afghanistan — Pakistani ports), and routes across the Caspian to the Caucasus and Europe.
Services (the tertiary sector) include trade, communications and IT, banking and insurance, education, health care, personal services and tourism. In developed countries they provide most of GDP and employment; in Uzbekistan their share is also growing.
Tourism is a promising industry for Uzbekistan:
Exports: natural gas, gold, copper and other non-ferrous metals, cotton fibre and yarn, textiles, fruit and vegetables, mineral fertilisers, cars.
Imports: machinery and equipment, vehicles, chemicals, medicines, food.
Main trading partners: China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, the Republic of Korea.
Trend: exporting more finished goods (yarn, fabric, clothing) instead of raw material (cotton fibre), which adds value and creates jobs.
"Rail carried 2 million tonnes of cargo an average distance of 450 km. Find the freight turnover."
"A high-speed train covers 340 km in 2 hours; an ordinary train takes 4 hours 15 minutes. What is the high-speed train's average speed and the time saved?"
Although Uzbekistan has no access to the sea, much of its exports and imports ultimately travel by sea. The exam therefore also asks about the “anchor points” of world transport — canals, straits and major ports.
Sea transport carries about 80 % of world trade by volume. Containerisation played a big part in its growth: goods packed in standard-sized containers move from ship to train and from train to lorry without being unpacked. This is called multimodal (combined) transport, and it matters for Uzbekistan too: a container travels by rail to ports in China, Iran or the Baltic and is then loaded onto a ship.
The most important international canals:
Key straits: Malacca (the busiest route between the Indian and Pacific Oceans), Hormuz (the exit for oil from the Persian Gulf), Gibraltar (the Atlantic — the Mediterranean), the Bosporus and Dardanelles (the Black Sea — the Mediterranean), and the English Channel (with the Strait of Dover).
Major ports: Shanghai ranks first in the world by container throughput, with Singapore also among the leaders; Europe’s largest port is Rotterdam (the Netherlands).
Rule: knowing exactly which two bodies of water a canal or strait connects is the most common exam question
Average haul = freight turnover (t·km) ÷ freight carried (t)
“In a year road transport carried 50 million t of freight with a turnover of 2.5 billion t·km; rail carried 20 million t with 9 billion t·km (hypothetical figures). Find the average haul for each mode.”