ASTANA, Kazakhstan, November 24. Kazakhstan continues to develop the transport sector and wants to turn it into one of the main sectors of the economy.
Trend News Agency provides an overview of the main events in the transport sector of Kazakhstan in the third quarter of 2023:
Middle Corridor
Kazakhstan has increased freight transportation via the Middle Corridor (Trans-Caspian International Transport Route - TITR) by 77.2 percent from January through June compared to the same period last year, surpassing 1.3 million tons.
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As President Kassym Jomart-Tokayev said, Kazakhstan plans to increase the capacity of cargo transportation through the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) up to 500,000 containers per year by 2030.
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Kazakh PM Alikhan Smailov pointed out the ongoing work on the development of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) and the elimination of bottlenecks. The capacity of this route is planned to be increased from six to 10 million tons of cargo per year by 2025.
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The volume of cargo transportation along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route through Kazakhstan increased by 86 percent, compared to the same period of 2022, and amounted to 1.6 million tons.
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Traffic volume along TITR can be increased five times in the medium term, Tokayev said in a message to the people of Kazakhstan on September 1.
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According to Kazakh Foreign Minister Murat Nurtleu, Kazakhstan and Türkiye plan to expand supplies via the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route.
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As President Tokayev said in his speech at the 5th Consultative Meeting of the Heads of State of Central Asia, Kazakhstan intends to systematically increase the capacity of the Trans-Caspian international transport route (Middle Corridor).
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In addition, Tokayev in his speech at the General Debate of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly said that the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (Middle Corridor) will increase the pace of trade between the most important markets, almost halving the time required to transport goods by sea.
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Latvia sees the Trans-Caspian international transport route (Middle Corridor) as an important alternative in the current geopolitical situation, a source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia said on September 22.
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Kazakhstan and China plan to increase the volume of cargo transportation between the countries along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR, Middle Corridor) to 27 million tons in 2023. This was stated during a meeting between the Minister of Transport of Kazakhstan and China, Marat Karabayev, and Li Xiaopeng on the sidelines of the Global Sustainable Transport Forum in Beijing (China).
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President Tokayev called on Germany to utilize the potential of TITR.
Railroad transport
Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ - Kazakhstan Railways) transported over 124 million tons of cargo from January through June 2023. KZT transported a total of 202.2 million tons of freight from January through June 2023, marking a 1.9-percent decrease compared to the same period in 2022.
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As the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development of Kazakhstan said, Kazakhstan is planning to enhance its passenger transportation services by acquiring 844 additional train cars by 2030.
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Trains belonging to Kazakhstan’s "Passenger Transportation" JSC have transported more than 2.1 million people from June 1 through July 20, 2023.
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Kazakhstan's exports to China totaled 8.3 million tons of various cargo in the first half of 2023, which is 37 percent more compared to the same period of the previous year.
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Over 7 million tons of cargo have been transported through the Altynkol-Khorgos border crossing [between Kazakhstan and China] in the first seven months of 2023, which is a 30 percent increase compared to the same period last year.
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According to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan Serik Zhumangarin, to boost the export volumes of Kazakh goods to Afghanistan, alternative and more favorable routes via Turkmenistan's territory are currently being explored.
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On August 8, a number of important objects in the field of railway transport are returning to the ownership of Kazakhstan.
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The volume of cargo transportation by rail in Kazakhstan amounted to 145.9 million tons for the period from January to July 2023.
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As Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov said, this year, over 1,300 kilometers of railway tracks are also planned to be repaired.
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More than 21.6 million tons of cargo was transported by Kaztemirtrans (KTT) wagons from July through August 2023.
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As KTZ said, it plans to transport about 29 million tons of cargo through the KTZ network in September of this year (within the main plan).
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The volume of cargo transportation between Kazakhstan and China by rail amounted to 18.7 million tons from January through August 2023, which is 22 percent more than last year.
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Kazakhstan and China agreed on a transportation volume of 27.8 million tons of cargo for 2024, which is 1 million tons more than the 2023 figure. An agreement on this was reached during the 32-nd regular meeting of the mixed commissions of the border railways of the Kazakhstan and China in Shymkent on September 8.
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Zhanibek Tayzhanov, CEO of Passenger Transportation JSC, said that Kazakhstan will purchase 537 high-tech railcars from Stadler by 2030.
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Freight turnover on the Kazakhstan Railways (KTZ) network has increased to 179.1 billion net tons from January through August 2023, which is 7.7 percent higher than the same period last year.
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The volume of transportation of goods by rail between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan amounted to 20.6 million tons for 8 months of 2023, which is 26 percent more than for the same period in 2022.
Air transport
On July 3, FlyArystan, Kazakhstan's first low-cost air carrier, has carried out the first flight between Astana and Uzbekistan's Tashkent.
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At the same day, Kazakhstan's Air Astana has announced the commencement of direct flights between Almaty and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, starting from October 1, 2023.
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On July 27, FlyArystan has launched direct flights between Astana and China's Urumqi.
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Kazakhstan's Qazaq Air has announced plans to open direct flights between Kazakhstan’s Almaty city and Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek.
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According to the Ministry of Culture and Sport of Kazakhstan, IndiGo, will launch direct flights between Delhi and Kazakhstan's Almaty in September.
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In addition, Kazakhstan's airline Air Astana plans to launch flights to Tokyo and Singapore in 2024, and to New York - in 2025.
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Kazakhstan's Air Astana launched flights on the route Almaty - Tel Aviv on September 7.
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As President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said during a meeting with President of Albania Bajram Begaj, Kazakhstan considers it necessary to open direct flights with Albania.
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The Chinese Loong Airlines has launched flights on the Hangzhou - Almaty route on September 7.
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Kazakhstan and Türkiye announced the launch of new flights after a meeting between Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Murat Nurtleu and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Türkiye Hakan Fidan on September 11. The parties noted that the frequency of flights has increased from 40 to 93.
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The German consortium Hansa stated that it is considering the possibility of building an aviation cargo hub in the free economic zone (Khorgos-Eastern Gate SEZ) in Kazakhstan.
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Türkiye's Turkish Airlines reveals plans to increase the number of flights on the routes Istanbul-Astana and Istanbul-Almaty. The Turkish side informed Kazakhstan about the work to withdraw the low-cost division AnadoluJet from Turkish Airlines as a separate legal entity. Upon completion of this process, the launch of flights to Kazakhstan by the new airline is expected in March 2024.
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Kazakh low-cost airline FlyArystan announced plans to launch regular flights from Almaty to the largest city in India and one of the most populated cities on the planet, Mumbai from November 2023.
Maritime transport
Kazakhstan's maritime transport handled 633,200 tons of cargo from January through June 2023. This figure is 13.5 percent bigger compared to the same period of the previous year.
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Kazakhstan and the Abu Dhabi Ports are working on creating the shortest direct route for delivering Kazakhstani export goods to the markets of the Persian Gulf countries, the Middle East, Pakistan, India, and the East African coast.
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On August 15, the Ministry of Industry of Kazakhstan has launched the construction of a container terminal in the Georgian port of Poti.
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Abu Dhabi Ports Group, a leading force in global trade, logistics, and industry facilitation, has entered into a Heads of Terms (HoT) agreement with Kazakhstan's SEMURG INVEST, the proprietor and developer of the Sarzha Multifunctional Marine Terminal in Kuryk Port, to potentially invest in the grain terminal located at Kuryk Port.
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On August 24, Abu Dhabi Ports Group (ADP) and KazMunayGas, national company of Kazakhstan, are planning to collaborate on the joint construction of tankers for oil transportation in open seas and the Caspian Sea in the near term, Magzum Mirzagaliyev, Chairman of the Management Board of Kyrgyzstan, said.
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Over 2.6 million tons of dry and oil cargo were transshipped through Kazakhstan's Aktau Commercial Seaport in the first seven months of 2023, which is 24 percent higher than the same period last year.
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As Kazakh Ambassador to Azerbaijan Alim Bayel said at a roundtable discussion on "Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan relations: regional cooperation", Kazakhstan plans to build a terminal in Baku port.
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About 1.5 million tons of cargo were transshipped through the Kazakh seaport of Kuryk from January through August, which is 15 percent higher than the same period last year.
Road transport
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced plans to conduct a sovereign project to support the reconstruction of a connector road in Kazakhstan.
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Kazakhstan announced plans to repair 175.7 kilometers of roads of regional, district significance and city streets in Ulytau region in 2023.
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As Kazakhstan's Vice Minister of Trade and Integration Kayrat Torebayev said, Kazakhstan piloted several trucks on a new trade route to Pakistan via Afghanistan.
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According to a source at the Ministry of Transport, road construction work is underway in Kazakhstan on sections of highways with a total length of 6,400 kilometers. Some 3,600 kilometers of the total length of roads are being reconstructed, and 2,800 kilometers are being repaired.
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Asian Development Bank (ADB) has committed to finance two new road projects in Kazakhstan with its sovereign-guaranteed loans starting from 2024.
