Business circles in the country’s Omsk region in Western Siberia, with the backing of local authorities, are ready to invest about US$1.5M in the construction of a river terminal in the neighbouring Pavlodar region in northern Kazakhstan.

The project is intended to help expand trade between the two countries (estimated at around US$380M) and strengthen their ties with China’s north-western provinces, according to Omsk region’s governor Aleksandr Burkov.

The new facility will explot the potential of transportation on the River Irtysh, one of the longest Asian rivers running from China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR) through Kazakhstan to Russia’s Siberia, where it joins the River Ob, another great Asian river, which drains into the Arctic Ocean.

The Irtysh is currently used to transport Siberian lumber and sawn timber from Omsk to Kazakhstan and crushed stone, sand, gravel and salt from Pavlodar to Russia. However, volumes have progressively fallen from a peak of 1 Mt, through 0.5 Mt and now down to 150,000t tpa, said Pavlodar Region’s Governor, Abylkair Skakov.

The new terminal, should it be realised, would handle various bulk cargoes in its initial phase, with breakbulk and containerised cargoes following later. Transportation costs of Russo-Kazakh trade would be cut by a third, said Burkov.

He added: “It is of strategic importance today to use the Irtysh to access trans-Arctic routes and of equal significance to use the waterway for southbound trades, to Kazakhstan and China.”

He wants to arrange a test voyage from Omsk to the river’s upstream flow (the so-called Black Irtysh) in XUAR to explore the route and determine its logistic prospects. The governor has already contacted the federal transport ministry in Moscow to agree the project with Beijing.  

The Irtysh’s total length of 4.248 kms, and its segments across Russia and the Omsk region stretch for 2,048 kms and 1,133 kms respectively. The river is navigable for 3,784 kms.

As far as Kazakhstan is concerned, the semi-landlocked Central Asian country has since its independence in 1991 been trying hard to develop its transport sector and transit potential. Thus, it has been heavily investing in its only Caspian seaport of Aktau and transcontinental transport corridors linking China with Europe and Russia with India through Kazakhstan’s vast steppes.

Meanwhile, the thorough navigation via the Irtysh-Ob river system (Kazakhstan’s segment of the Irtysh makes up 1,718 km) would offer the nation a unique chance to enter the Arctic Ocean and deliver its cargoes along the Northeast Passage.

Finally, for China, it would also be a good opportunity to connect XUAR and its other landlocked north-western provinces with the two neighbouring markets and the Arctic routes.