Middle Corridor - The Times Of Central Asia

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200th Container Train from China Arrives in Kazakhstan’s Aktau Port on Middle Corridor

A container train from China arrived last week in the port of Aktau on Kazakhstan’s Caspian coast. Kazakhstan’s national railway company, Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, announced that it was the 200th container train since the beginning of 2024. Last year, 11 container trains went through Aktau Port along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), known as the Middle Corridor. The Middle Corridor is an 11,000-kilometer international multimodal transport corridor that runs from China to Europe via Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Black Sea, and Turkey. The container train originally departed from the Kazakhstan terminal in Xi'an (China). From Aktau, it will depart for Azerbaijan on a barge across the Caspian Sea. The Kazakh terminal in Xi'an is an important logistics hub that consolidates cargo from various provinces of China. It has given a new impetus to the development of the TITR. In November 2023, Kazakhstan and China signed a number of agreements to develop the TITR, including a route for China-Europe container trains. Middle Corridor Multimodal Ltd. is a joint venture that was established at the Astana International Financial Center, bringing together the railway administrations of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Georgia to manage the route on a parity basis. The Kazakhstani terminal in the dry port of Xi'an opened in February 2024. It consolidates 40% of all container trains heading towards Kazakhstan, which has contributed to a significant increase in transit traffic along the TITR. Transportation along the TITR is growing steadily. In 2023, 2.8 million tons of cargo were transported along the route, compared to about 1.7 million tons in 2022. In the first seven months of 2024, the traffic totaled 2.56 million tons. By 2027, the capacity of the TITR is planned to increase to 10 million tons.

Middle Corridor Ecology

China-Europe Trade Could Disrupt Saiga Migration, Group Warns

Once close to extinction, the saiga antelope has made a big recovery in numbers in recent years, marking a major conservation success in Central Asia. However, a group that promotes Kazakhstan’s grasslands and wildlife says plans to develop business corridors between China and Europe are likely to affect the saigas, which migrate long distances to find water and pasture. “Kazakhstan is projected to see significant development of roads and railways in the next decade, as multilateral businesses and governments aim to better connect trade routes between China and Europe through Central Asia. Much of this development is slated to impact saiga range,” the Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative said in a statement on Friday. The conservation group believes its participation in a global project to map migration corridors of ungulates – hoofed mammals – can help to offset the impact of an expected rapid expansion of trade networks on saiga populations, whose numbers in Kazakhstan reached nearly three million in a survey conducted earlier this year. The vast majority of saigas are in Kazakhstan. The Ustyurt saiga population, one of three big concentrations of the species in Kazakhstan, is now among 20 mapped populations, including reindeer in Norway and Finland and zebras in eastern and southern Africa, in an atlas compiled by the U.N.-backed Global Initiative on Ungulate Migration. The project aims to provide tracking and migration corridor information for review by state agencies and others so that the easily available data can be taken into account while planning development. “We are now focused on mitigation measures for existing developments and assessing if crossing structures will facilitate saiga movements safely across roads and railways, and whether truncated movements can be restored,” the Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative said. Trade between China and the European Union reached 739 billion euros last year, a drop of 14 percent from 2022, according to the European Commission. China is the EU’s second largest trading partner for goods after the United States. Currently, there are trade tensions between China and the EU.

Russia US Middle Corridor International Relations Geopolitics Foreign Affairs B5+1

Russia’s FM: U.S. Interest in Central Asia’s Economy Could Harm Russia’s Development

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, during a question-and-answer session with students at Moscow’s MGIMO University in early September, noted that “a growing number of extra-regional actors,” including the United States, have taken an interest in fostering trade via the so-called Middle Corridor -- a route connecting Asia to Europe via Central Asia, bypassing Russia. Lavrov’s speech suggests that the U.S. interest in the economic future of Central Asia will negatively impact Russia's development. Lavrov noted that Russia maintains “warm and allied” relations with Central Asian nations, which are bound to Russia economically and strategically via several agreements, including the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Eurasian Economic Union, and the Commonwealth of Independent States. He added that Russia “cannot prevent anyone from establishing deeper ties with other partners.” Lavrov couldn’t resist lashing out at the United States, saying the motives of American officials in Central Asia aren’t magnanimous. “When our partners and allies in Central Asia expand their relations with the West, I do not have the slightest doubt that they understand perfectly well that apart from pursuing its noble and transparent objectives, the West also seeks to undermine the Russian Federation’s influence there,” he said. The U.S. engages with Central Asia through the B5+1 process, which promotes Western investment by encouraging reforms to reduce trade barriers and streamline customs. Recently, Central Asian countries have signed agreements to improve trade regulation, and the U.S. has helped some countries upgrade their infrastructure. U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan Daniel Rosenblum has said in a statement: “In August ... the United States provided Kazakhstan’s Customs Service with advanced Dell Technologies Inc. servers to help make border procedures more efficient. “Adopting innovative technologies will streamline processes, enhance accuracy, improve transparency, and foster a business-friendly environment, attracting more investors and boosting economic growth,” Russia's war in Ukraine has weakened the Kremlin’s ability to pressure Central Asian states to follow its wishes. Russia depends on covert trade through Central Asia to bypass sanctions and get goods for its war. Meanwhile, China is supplying dual-use technologies to Russia and has overtaken Russia as the leading trade partner for Central Asian countries. In his remarks, Lavrov called China “a reliable partner” but didn’t mention it in the context of Central Asia’s growing trade dynamics.

Middle Corridor TITR International Transit New rail routes multimodal transport corridor International transport

Middle Corridor Container Transit Through Kazakhstan Showing Dramatic Growth

Kazakhstan’s national railways company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) has announced that the volume of container transportation through the country is growing rapidly. In the first seven months of this year, rail container transportation from China to Europe through Kazakhstan along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) grew 14-fold compared to the same period last year, The TITR is a multimodal transport corridor connecting China and Europe by bypassing Russia, also known as the Middle Corridor. To develop it, Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, together with other stakeholders, is working to increase transportation volumes, improve services, and speed up cargo delivery. To date, the transportation time from Altynkol railway station on the Kazakh-Chinese border to Absheron (Azerbaijan) has been reduced to 9 days, to Poti/Batumi (Georgia) to 12 days, and to Constanta (Romania) via Poti/Batumi to 20–22 days. In 2023, KTZ and the railway administrations of Azerbaijan and Georgia established the Middle Corridor Multimodal Ltd. Joint Venture to improve multimodal services along the route. The joint venture provides a 'one-stop shop' service and guarantees delivery times and costs. KTZ is developing Kazakh port infrastructure in the Caspian Sea with the involvement of large international logistics companies.

Trans-Caspian Corridor Middle Corridor Caspian Sea Strategy Economy Export/Import Investments

Kazakhstan Deepens Caspian Ports to Boost Middle Corridor Potential

To further increase the potential of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), the Kazakh Ministry of Transport has begun dredging the port of Kuryk to provide sufficient depth for ships to enter the harbour. Specialized equipment to deepen the port by approximately 1.5-2 meters, has been supplied by Jan de Nul, a European company contracted to complete dredging works on a turnkey basis. Dredging Kuryk's port will allow for the further expansion of its terminal capacity which currently has provision for 6 million tons of cargo (railway terminal—4 million tons, automobile terminal—2 million tons). The port can also simultaneously accommodate 250 trucks. Similar dredging works will also be carried out in the port of Aktau. The project is part of the comprehensive measures to develop the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, also known as the Middle Corridor, which will connect China and Europe via Central Asia and the Caucasus. According to the Kazakh Ministry of Transport, the volume of cargo transportation through Kazakhstan along the TITR for the first seven months this year increased by 62%; amounting to 2.5 million tons, compared to 1.6 million tons in the same period in 2023.

Middle Corridor

What Does the Future Hold for the Middle Corridor?

With the outbreak of Russia's war in Ukraine and the subsequent sanctions against Russia, the traditional logistics corridor between East and West has significantly narrowed. In order to ensure the safe and uninterrupted export of locally produced goods and attract transit cargoes, the Kazakh government is therefore developing new routes. One of these is the Trans-Caspian International Transport route. But, given the aggravated geopolitical situation in the region and growing competition for cargo transportation between the East and West, will the Caspian transport corridor - also known as the Middle Corridor - allow the government to meet its ambitions? Infrastructural vector of the Caspian Sea Logistics have focused on the transportation route across the Caspian Sea, considerably increasing the role of the Middle Corridor, which is facing a huge increase in demand. The countries along which the TITR route runs have started building their transport infrastructure capacities, replenishing their maritime fleets, and pooling capital and competencies in logistics and transportation. In particular, at the end of 2022, a Road Map on synchronous elimination of so-called "bottlenecks" along the route along the territories of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Turkey for 2022-2027 was signed. A joint venture, the Middle Corridor Multimodal, was established by the railway administrations of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Georgia to increase the volume of cargo transportation. A unified approach to infrastructure development by all route participants has been formed, and several projects are planned to improve the transportation infrastructure of the road's Kazakh, Azerbaijani, and Georgian sections. For the development of transportation on TITR through the seaports of Aktau and Kuryk, Kazakhstan plans to create a container hub in the port of Aktau, dredging, construction of additional berths in both harbors, restoration of oil infrastructure and renewal, as well as re-equipment of the transshipment park in the port of Aktau. In addition, a grain terminal will be built at Kuryk's seaport. Implementing these measures will increase the throughput capacity of Kazakhstan's sea harbors to 27.3 million tons per year and increase cargo traffic along the Middle Corridor. Ten oil barges, eight ferries, six tankers, and a container ship will start operating in the Caspian Sea by 2030. Furthermore, the construction in Aktau has attracted investment from the Chinese company, LLC GC Port Lianyungangan, which manages one of the largest ports in China and has signed an agreement to create a container hub at the seaport. Additionally, in partnership with the Singaporean company PSA Eagle Pte., a joint venture called KPMC Ltd has been established at the Astana International Financial Center. This venture aims to attract more cargo to the Middle Corridor, develop a digital transport corridor to optimize transportation processes, enhance the competitiveness of routes, streamline interactions, integrate partners along the cargo flow path, and improve supply chain management. Work is being undertaken to expand the presence of companies from the Caspian region in global markets. Establishing such transport and logistics enterprises along the Middle Corridor will improve transportation organization and build efficient logistics chains. The willingness of large enterprises,...