ASTANA – Kazakh Minister of Trade and Integration Serik Zhumangarin and CEO of Simatech Shipping and Forwarding Davood Tafti discussed the possibility of creating the shortest direct route for Kazakh exports to the markets of the coast of East Africa, India, the Middle East, Pakistan, and the Persian Gulf at an Aug. 7 meeting, reported the ministry’s press service.
Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade and Integration Serik Zhumangarin and CEO of Simatech Shipping and Forwarding Davood Tafti at an Aug. 7 meeting. Photo credit: gov.kz.
Establishing the new route will be facilitated by launching a joint venture with Abu Dhabi Ports, a part of the AD Ports Group, on behalf of Simatech Shipping and Forwarding.
As part of the DP World Group, Simatech Shipping and Forwarding is the leading ship management company in the Persian Gulf with a large fleet, supplying cargo from Iran to the Arab countries, India, Africa, and China. The company also has several commercial ports and terminals in Arab countries.
The joint venture aims to supply agricultural goods from the Kazakh port of Kuryk to the Persian Gulf countries through the Iranian ports of Amirabad and Bandar Abbas.
The new route will allow Kazakh exporters to deliver goods in three days through Iran with access to the Iranian ports of Amirabad, Bandar Abbas, Bandar Imam Khomeini, and Chabahar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ports of Khalifa, Fujairah, and further to all the ports of India, Pakistan, the Far East, and the East coast of Africa.
“At the same time, the possibility of delivering goods to European countries is not excluded,” noted Zhumangarin.
The parties discussed options for cargo delivery routes across the Caspian Sea to Iran with further transit to the Persian Gulf countries.
According to Tafti, Simatech Shipping and Forwarding has purchased four vessels with a carrying capacity of 7,500 tons each and a displacement of six meters. The vessels, capable of transporting bulk, container, and break bulk cargo, are currently located in the port of Amirabad.
The company has recently acquired 45 trucks and two barges carrying 350 trucks each. Tafti revealed plans to increase the number of trucks to 200 in the next four months, then to 1,000, and to deliver ten vessels in the next two years.
Kazakhstan’s port of Kuryk and UAE’s port of Jebel Ali will be the main ports, equipped and connected by all the necessary infrastructure.
Considering the company owns two dry ports for consolidation and re-packing of cargo, this will give Kazakh exporters an unprecedented opportunity to cross Iran in two-three days.
An agreement on the development of transportation between the ports of Kuryk and Amirabad was signed during the visit of Kazakh Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov to Iran in April. As per the reached agreements, the construction of infrastructure for grain terminals is near completion in these ports.
