BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 5. Freight transportation between Kazakhstan and China reached 18.662 million tons in the first half of 2026, up 9.2% compared to the same period of 2025, according to Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ).
The figures were announced during a working meeting in Astana between KTZ and a delegation from China Railway's Urumqi Railway Company.
According to KTZ, cargo shipments from Kazakhstan to China totaled 11.702 million tons during the reporting period, marking a 9.5% year-on-year increase. Freight transported from China to Kazakhstan amounted to 6.960 million tons, up 8.7% from a year earlier.
Container traffic through the Kazakhstan-China border rail crossings also continued to grow. In the first six months of 2026, the two countries handled 1.085 million TEUs, an increase of 6.6% year-on-year. Of this total, 741,800 TEUs transited through Kazakhstan, representing a 10.4% increase compared to the same period of 2025.
The two sides praised the effective cooperation between personnel at the border railway stations and expressed appreciation for their efforts in ensuring the smooth operation of cross-border freight services.
During the meeting, the participants also highlighted the steady increase in cargo flows toward Central Asia and Iran, including shipments transported via the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), or Middle Corridor. To sustain this growth, the parties agreed to continue joint efforts to ensure uninterrupted logistics services.
The Kazakh side also pointed to rising demand from neighboring countries for imports of petroleum cargo from China. Given the strategic importance of this traffic, Kazakhstan confirmed its readiness to receive and process up to 90,000 tons of liquid bulk cargo per month. The Chinese side expressed its willingness to support these shipments and jointly assess the technical capacity of border infrastructure to further expand transportation volumes.
"KTZ and Urumqi Railway Company reaffirmed their commitment to further developing their strategic partnership in the field of railway transportation," the company said.
The Middle Corridor is a multimodal trade route connecting Asia and Europe through several countries in the region and serving as an alternative to the traditional Northern and Southern corridors. The route begins in China and passes through Central Asian countries before crossing the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Türkiye, ultimately reaching Europe. It is a land-based transport route that bypasses longer maritime routes, linking the eastern parts of Asia, including China, with European markets.
Kazakhstan's Vice Minister of Trade and Integration Aset Nusupov told Trend that the corridor has become one of Kazakhstan's main strategic assets over the past decade.
"The figures speak for themselves. Over three years, from 2022 to 2025, the volume of transportation along the route increased more than fivefold. By the end of 2025, total cargo traffic reached 4.5–4.7 million tonnes, of which container transportation accounted for 76,900 TEUs (36% more than a year earlier)," the vice minister said.
He noted that in the first quarter of 2026, 125 container trains passed along the route, representing a 34.4% increase compared to the same period last year. Over the same period, 85 trains operated on the Xi'an - Alat Port route, twice as many as a year earlier. Delivery times along the route have nearly halved, decreasing from 28–32 days to 11–13 days.
