Astana has unveiled plans to build five transport and logistics terminals all along the country’ borders by 2026, serving land crossings with China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Russia, as well as on the Caspian Sea.

Kazakhstan is mostly a land-locked and the Caspian shore is its only gateway to western markets via the South Caucasus and the Black Sea, bypassing Russia. Astana has to focus on the development of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR or the Middle Corridor) and the Kazakh sea ports of Aktau and Kuryk.

Last December, the two ports, situated around 70 kms apart,  were linked into Seaport of Aktau’ Special Economic Zone (SEZ). This will see Kuryk, which already has a ferry link with Azerbaijan’s port of Baku, become a major hub. In addition, Kazakhstan’s Semurg Invest wants to build a multipurpose terminal for general, dry and liquid bulk cargoes (the so-called Sarzha project) in the port and has signed a MoU with India’s Adani Group to develop it.

Meanwhile, Azamat Askaruli, the director general of QazTrade trade policy development centre, believes that the country’s low containerisation index (ca. 10%) has to be addressed if the government’s ambitious policies are to succeed. As a key step, a dedicated container terminal with a capacity of 175,000 220,000 per year, will be built at Aktau.

In January this year, Kazakhstan’s national oil operator KazMunayGas and the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructural Development inked a strategic partnership agreement and a MoU with Abu Dhabi’s AD Ports Group.

This focuses on development of a new fleet of shallow draft vessels to support offshore operations in the Caspian Sea and the construction of a tanker fleet to support the export of Kazakh oil. In addition, AD Ports would help develop coastal infrastructure.

The parties also agreed to establish a joint venture to provide offshore services for the Caspian Sea’s energy operators and (at a later stage) to offer feeder container and ro-ro transportation in the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea.

Last year, Kazakhstan was in talks with PSA International, Germany’s Martrade Group, as well as several shipping lines as potential partners in erecting the container terminal.

In 2022, Aktau Sea Commercial Port handled around 4 Mt (+9%), of which 2.5 Mt of oil, and the rest was mainly grain and ferrous and non-ferrous metals. The volumes of container and ro-ro cargoes made up just 30,700 TEU and 4,000 tonnes respectively.

There is clearly major scope for development for the Middle Corridor passing to the south of Russia, given the overall geopolitical situation and Kazakhstan’s need to diversify its own supply and export routes.