BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec. 28
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
Cargo transportation volumes through Kazakhstan’s Aktau and Kuryk ports will amount to about 4.8 million tons in 2020, which is 9 percent less than in 2019 (5.3 million tons), Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Industry and Infrastructural Development said, Trend reports citing Kazakh media.
The ministry noted that at the same time a twofold increase in transshipment of containers and cargo vehicles is being observed at the ports.
The ministry added that a regular container line between the port of Aktau and the Iranian port of Amirabad, as well as the Kuryk-Anzali (Iran) auto ferry service, has been launched this year. The opening of container traffic between the ports of Aktau and Turkmenbashi and ferry traffic between Kuryk and Makhachkala is being considered at the moment.
Next year there are plans to work out the issues of including the port of Aktau in the membership of the Seaport Aktau Special Economic Zone and the creation of a "container hub" on the basis of the port. This will allow increasing the volume of container traffic from 35,000 to 135,000 containers per year by 2025.
There are also plans to reorient parts of the export cargo volumes, such as coal, sulfur, metal products, to the ports of Aktau and Kuryk. However, to do so it will be necessary to introduce subsidies for transport costs in order to "equalize" tariff rates with transportation along traditional routes through the Russian ports of Novorossiysk and Ust-Luga.
Next year there are also plans to work out the issue of introducing a mechanism for "budget lending" in the acquisition of merchant marine vessels.
As part of improving the safety of navigation next year, domestic procedures for the ratification of the Nairobi Convention will be completed, as well as the issue of implementing projects in the port of Aktau for a vessel traffic management system and a marine rescue coordination center.
In order to develop river cargo transportation, the bilateral traffic on the Irtysh River with Russia will be increased and multimodal communication with China will be set up next year. In general, freight traffic is projected to grow from 1.6 million to 3.8 million tons by 2025.
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