BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 16. Two multipurpose dry cargo vessels for Kazakhstan's KTZ Express Shipping, a subsidiary of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy National Company, will be built at Baku Shipyard in Azerbaijan, the press service of the Samruk-Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund reported.
A document exchange ceremony for the project was held on October 15 during Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev's working visit to Baku to attend the Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA).
The contracts for the construction of the vessels were signed in April 2026.
The ceremony was attended by Nurlan Zhakupov, Chairman of the Management Board of Samruk-Kazyna JSC, and Rashad Nabiyev, Azerbaijan's Minister of Digital Development and Transport and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of AZCON Holding.
The new dry cargo vessels are planned to operate on the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), which connects Asia and Europe.
"Developing its own maritime fleet will enable Kazakhstan to improve the efficiency of freight management, increase the capacity of the Trans-Caspian route, and create additional conditions for attracting international cargo flows," the Samruk-Kazyna press service said.
The project is being implemented in line with Tokayev's instructions and is aimed at developing a multimodal transport and logistics system, strengthening Kazakhstan's transit potential, and enhancing its position on international transport routes.
On October 1, 2026, Kassym Tlepov, Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Railway and Water Transport at Kazakhstan's Ministry of Transport, said during the World Bank Group's online event "Middle Corridor: The Next Phase" that Kazakhstan expected to receive eight more vessels for container transportation by 2028. Four are expected to be built at Baku Shipyard and the other four in China.
The 7th CICA Summit was held in Baku on October 15 under Azerbaijan's chairmanship. The event was attended by heads of state and government, delegations from CICA member and observer states, observer organizations, and partner institutions.
