ASTANA – The volume of cargo transshipment in the Aktau port grew 23% to over two million tons so far this year, the Atameken Business reported on July 19.
Throughput capacity of the two ports exceeds 20 million tons of cargo per year. Photo credit: Adil Kaukenov/Facebook. Click to see the map in full size. The map is designed by The Astana Times.
Located on the northeastern shore of the Caspian Sea, the Aktau port, with three dry cargo and three oil terminals, holds major international importance in the system of long-distance cargo transportation. With a total throughput capacity of nearly 12 million tons, the Aktau port mainly exports grain and petroleum products.
Kairat Kaliolla, chief logistics manager of the Aktau International Sea Trade Port, informed that Kazakhstan exports oil through the Aktau port to Russia’s port of Makhachkala and to Azerbaijan, and sends grain to Iran.
“The total transshipment volume reached 2.2 million tons in the first half of 2023,” he said.
The seaport’s development will be driven by container transportation, whose volume is planned to reach 35,000 this year.
In addition, the port of Aktau plans to create a container hub in two years that will significantly increase the cargo flow along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR).
The port of Kuryk, located on the east coast of the Caspian Sea and capable of receiving road and train ferries year-round, anticipates the completion of the construction of a grain terminal, which will store and export wheat varieties in large volumes.
According to Serik Akhmetov, General Director of the Kuryk Port, the grain terminal with an additional one million tons capacity is scheduled to be launched in September-October this year.
A roadmap was drawn to develop the two ports, whose throughput capacity exceeds 20 million tons of cargo per year, considering cheaper and time-saving transportation of goods through the sea corridor.
Adil Kaukenov, chief expert at the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies (KazISS), shared his views after visiting the ports.
He noted that despite the geopolitical storms raging worldwide, Kazakhstan is confidently paving new routes, bolstering TITR to boost trade with the Caucasus region and beyond.
Unlike the port of Aktau, Kaukenov said, Kuryk is a completely new and modern port on Kazakhstan’s Caspian Sea coast, not restrained by the city’s needs, strictly focusing on transportation according to international standards, and developing in all directions.
“The geopolitical storms made the Caspian Sea calmer and more interesting in terms of the economy,” he commented.
According to Kaukenov, while the Aktau port is working at near total capacity, Kuryk intends to expand and introduce the latest technologies in marine transportation.
“Kazakhstan’s peaceful [political] environment and successful diplomacy enable to maximize all the transit advantages of the country,” he noted.
