ASTANA — Kazakhstan is expanding its global transport and transit network by developing new terminals at key international cargo hubs. Projects are underway in countries like Azerbaijan, Russia, Belarus, and Uzbekistan and terminals are planned for Romania, Hungary, and China. The country plans to significantly increase its transit capacity and strengthen its role as a major logistics hub.
Kazakhstan plans to establish joint terminals in Romania, Hungary, and Urumqi, China. Photo credit: Milos Muller/Shutterstock.
At a Feb. 19 briefing in Astana, Nurzhan Kelbuganov, deputy chairman of the railway and water transport committee of the Transport Ministry, said that Kazakh-Chinese terminals operate at Lianyungang port and the dry port of Xian, while a Kazakh company has built a terminal in the port of Poti in Georgia.
Several other terminals are under development, including those at Alat Port in Azerbaijan, Selyatino station near Moscow, Svisloch station in Belarus, and Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Their combined capacity exceeds one million containers per year. Other plans include establishing joint terminals in Romania, Hungary, and Urumqi, China.
These initiatives are designed to boost Kazakhstan’s external terminal capacity by four times, reaching 2.5 million containers annually.
According to Nurlan Kenesov, director of the ministry’s transport policy department, Kazakhstan seeks to increase transit traffic volumes to 74 million tons by 2030. The country has formed a network of routes, including five railway and eight road corridors.
The volume of traffic through Kazakhstan last year exceeded 30 million tons. Of them, 4.5 million tons of cargo were transported via the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route last year. Nearly 80% of all cargo was transported by rail, and 20% by road.
