Investments under discussion for quite some time have been made official in Kazakhstan. As the Kazakh government announced, the Caspian Sea ports of Aktau and Kuryk will undergo significant upgrades. The goal is to create a regional comprehensive logistics cluster that will benefit the Middle Corridor. Most, if not all, investments will be carried out with private funds.
The infrastructure investment project is part of Kazakhstan’s broader ‘Comprehensive plan for the development of maritime infrastructure for 2024-2028’ that was officially announced a few weeks ago. As part of this plan, upgrade works will commence this year at the ports of Aktau and Kuryk.
In Aktau, the plan is to construct a container hub. Earlier this month, it was confirmed that the container hub will be built with the help of Chinese investments, specifically with the involvement of the Chinese Lianyungang Port Group. The total investment will amount to approximately 3,7 billion US dollars. Aktau is probably considered Kazakhstan’s most important Middle Corridor hub.
On the other hand, the Kuryk port is meant to undergo dredging work to begin with. Yerzhan Nauruzbayev, KTZ’s business transformation director, told RailFreight.com some months ago that such work was of strategic priority to transform the Kuryk port into a logistics hub similar to Aktau’s range.
Kuryk is also developing a reloading terminal on its premises, which could assist in digesting three additional million tons of cargo annually. Moreover, AD Ports and Semurg Invest formed a joint venture in August last year to build a new grain terminal in the port of Kuryk to facilitate grain transportation.
At the same time, bigger plans are targeting Kuryk. Specifically, the Kazakh port is part of an agreement between Hyrasia One, a significant energy project, and Semurg Invest, owner and operator of the Sarzha Multifunctional Marine Terminal (Sarzha MMT) at the port of Kuryk.
Their agreement foresees that the Kuryk port and the Sarzha MMT terminal are to become a green energy transport hub, with the plan being that hydrogen produced in Hyrasia One’s Kazakh industrial plant will find its way to Europe and other markets via the Middle Corridor.
The main targets of launching such investments are Kazakhstan’s seaport and freight transport capacity. If the capacity of ports increases, the same will apply to transit traffic, which is also carried out via rail.
In terms of port capacity, the plan entails increasing throughput to 30 million tons per year by 2028 and threefold increasing container handling volumes. In turn, this will hopefully result in a doubling of transit rail freight capacity by the same year. Additionally, cargo processing and clearance times are also expected to reduce marginally.
Copyright : https://www.railfreight.com/beltandroad/2024/08/01/kazakhstan-greenlights-infrastructure-upgrades-with-middle-corridor-logistics-cluster-in-mind/
