Kazakhstan plans to create its own ferry fleet in the Caspian Sea by 2030

Kuryk, Kazakhstan (PortSEurope) July 31, 2022 - Kazakhstan plans to create its own ferry fleet in the Caspian Sea by 2030 with 10 ferries stationed in its Kuryk port, according to country’s Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development. The ministry plans to provide state support and credits to achieve the concept of "own cargo - own port - own fleet". The ferries are expected to be able to transport both railway cars and trucks. Various options are being considered ranging from ferries capable of carrying 54 railway cars or 45 trucks and alternatively - 58 railway cars or 50 trucks. Their estimated cost is $37 million to $40 million. The construction period for a ferry is between two and three years. According to the ministry, out of 19 ferries in the Caspian Sea, 16 belong to Azerbaijan, 2 to Turkmenistan and only one to Russia. Most were built in Croatia, while currently it’s possible to build them in the Caspian shipyards. The war in Ukraine and the massive Western sanctions against Russia are redrawing the transport map of Central Asia and forcing logistic companies to rely more on road transport. An example are the plans by Kuryk to triple its cargo handling and increase the transport of vehicles. Port of Kuryk Road transport on the route Kazakhstan-Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey-Bulgaria will affect heavily Kuryk. In 2021 the port handled over 16,000 vehicles and in 2022 should receive over 19,000 trucks. The capacity of the ferry complex is 30,000 vehicles. The port has cargo capacity of 5 million tonnes, Serik Akhmetov, General Director, Port of Kuryk said earlier this year. In January 2022, the port handled 82,000 tonnes of cargo, but following the war in Ukraine now the forecast is for the port to handle 3 million tonnes in 2022. Kazakhstan exports oil products, fertilizers, chemicals, metal and consumer goods through the port of Kuryk. Imports are food, industrial equipment, textiles, electronics, building materials and other goods. Various equipment, electronics, textiles, chemical industry products, metal products from China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. According to Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development, the ports of Aktau and Kuryk are operating normally. There is no cargo downtime. Kazakhstan’s ports have additional cargo processing capacity of up to 10 million tonnes, including about 5.5 million tonnes of oil. The East-West transport corridor Aktau and Kuryk ports are currently operating at around 23% capacity. The plan is for goods arriving by rail at the port from Eastern Asia to be transported across the Caspian Sea to the port of Baku in Azerbaijan. From Baku, railway will transport cargo to the Georgian Black Sea ports of Batumi and Poti. From there, sea lines will take goods to Constanta in Romania, or to Burgas and Varna in Bulgaria. Alternatively, the cargo can go through the Bosporus Strait to Mediterranean Sea ports. From these ports, cargo rail services will bring goods to markets in Europe. On February 24, Russia invaded Ukraine. U.S. and EU sanctions practically closed Russian ports for international cargo and ships. The war also closed all Ukrainian ports in the Caspian and Azov Seas, and traders are redirecting cargo. They seek new routes to market for cargo which previously used these ports. Often, this is to avoid Russian territory. The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) is seen as the best way to bypass Russia which is isolated from the international trade. The importance of this route was underlined with the inclusion of Georgia and Azerbaijan in the European Union (EU) TEN-T network. More PortSEurope news about the port of Kuryk More PortSEurope news about the Ukrainian crisis More PortSEurope news about transport corridors Copyright (C) PortSEurope. All Rights Reserved. 2022.

Kazakhstan plans to create its own ferry fleet in the Caspian Sea by 2030

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Kazakhstan plans to create its own ferry fleet in the Caspian Sea by 2030

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