Uzbekistan Seeks More Freight Capacity Through Kazakhstan’s Caspian Ports
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have instructed their national railway companies to draw up a plan to increase Uzbek freight shipments through the ports of Aktau and Kuryk, expanding Tashkent’s access to markets across the Caspian Sea. Kazakh Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov and his Uzbek counterpart, Abdulla Aripov, discussed the plan during a July 23 visit to the Aktau International Sea Trade Port. The volume of Uzbek freight handled through Aktau and Kuryk increased by more than 60% in 2025, according to the Kazakh government. “Our task is to provide cargo from Central Asian countries with fast and reliable access to the markets of the Caucasus, Turkey, and Europe,” Bektenov said. Aktau and Kuryk are the main Kazakh ports on the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, commonly known as the Middle Corridor. The rail-and-sea route links China and Europe through Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey. For Uzbekistan, one of the world’s two double-landlocked countries, the Kazakh ports provide access to the western section of the corridor. Freight is carried by rail to the Caspian coast before being transferred to ships bound for Azerbaijan. The two governments did not say how much additional freight they expect to carry or when the railway companies must complete their plan. Further growth will depend on tariffs, the availability of railcars and vessels, border procedures, and the capacity of railway lines serving the ports. The combined infrastructure capacity of Aktau and Kuryk is about 22 million metric tons a year, according to Yelzhas Otynshiyev, chairman of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, the state railway company. Aktau alone can handle as much as 12 million tons annually and operates throughout the year. Container transit through the Kazakh ports on the Middle Corridor increased 3.8-fold between 2022 and 2025, the government said. The first phase of a container hub with annual capacity of 140,000 twenty-foot equivalent units has opened at Aktau. A second phase, due in 2027-2028, is expected to lift capacity to 240,000 TEUs. Kazakhstan has also ordered six container vessels. Four are due for delivery in 2027 and two more in 2028. The additional ships are intended to reduce dependence on the limited pool of vessels operating on the Caspian Sea. Capacity constraints remain at the ports and on the rail network. Falling Caspian Sea levels have made it harder for fully loaded vessels to enter some harbors and increased the need for dredging. Kazakhstan completed dredging at Kuryk in 2025 and plans to finish similar work at Aktau by the end of 2026. The World Bank lists port capacity, rail access, and delays at the Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan border among the main bottlenecks affecting the Middle Corridor. Some freight operators use longer routes because existing border crossings and rail links cannot handle demand efficiently. The bank has also called for additional berths and modern cargo-handling equipment at Aktau as the Caspian becomes shallower. Kazakhstan is upgrading the Shalkar-Beineu and Beineu-Mangystau railway sections that carry traffic to Aktau and Kuryk. In February 2026, the World Bank approved an $846...
