Sarzha multifunctional marine terminal in the port of Kuryk started transshipment of general cargoes

New terminal facilities of the port of Kuryk are included in the work. This became known at a meeting of the operational working group on the development of cross-border hubs in the Government, held under the chairmanship of Deputy Prime Minister Serik Zhumangarin.

At the end of September 2023 at the general cargo terminal of the multifunctional marine terminal "Sarzha" in the port of Kuryk, Mangystau region, the first batch of cargo was accepted. By the end of October, it is planned to ship a vessel loaded with metal with a total weight of 4.5 thousand tonnes.

SEMURG INVEST, a Kazakhstani developer, has been carrying out the construction project of the Sarzha IMT in the port of Kuryk for several years. All land works have been completed, access railway tracks, two berths and a general cargo terminal have been built. The project will include the construction of several terminals (grain, general and liquid cargo, universal) and a transport and logistics complex.

Nurzhan Marabaev, General Director of SEMURG INVEST LLP, noted at the meeting that completion of construction of all terminals of IMT Sarzha by 2030 will increase the throughput capacity of the Middle Corridor by 10 million tonnes per year.

In parallel, work is underway on the construction of a container hub in the Aktau seaport, which is part of the Caspian transport and logistics hub. It will be created on the basis of the special economic zone "Aktau Seaport", where a land plot of 19 hectares has been reserved for this purpose. Construction is planned to be completed in the second quarter of 2025. The launch of this facility will make it possible to intensify cargo traffic along the Trans-Caspian international transport route, reorient some of the transit cargoes going from China to Europe, developing in parallel the container line "Turkmenbashy - Aktau - PRC".

According to JSC NC KTZh, the Chinese seaport of Lianyungang is interested in investing in the construction of a container hub. In the sea harbour every day two container trains are formed in the direction of Kazakhstan. In the long term, the construction of Kazakhstan's dry port in Xi'an will increase the flow of goods to Kazakhstan via Lianyungang.

For the full operation of the Caspian hub, it is necessary to increase the capacity of the Beineu - Mangystau railway section. Currently, KTZ has developed a programme to eliminate bottlenecks on the Chelyabinsk-Bolashak railway line, of which this section is a part. It is planned to build seven additional segregated points and double-track inserts. These measures will be sufficient to eliminate difficult sections.

«The North-South international corridor, which is the main element of the Eurasian transport framework, has very good prospects. This is a territory for the development of Eurasian industrial cooperation and reformatting Kazakhstan into a logistics hub. These are the tasks set before us by the Head of State. Taking into account climatic and environmental changes in the Caspian Sea and the emergence of new capacities, the Kuryk port has every opportunity to become an important link in reconfiguring the chain of transport and logistics routes. It is definitely the future», — said Serik Zhumangarin.

New transport and logistics projects were also presented at the meeting. In particular, an E-Logistics hub near Almaty. Given the potential growth of the Almaty agglomeration to 5 million people by 2030, the facility is needed to consolidate and distribute agro-industrial cargo. Two models are being considered for the new hub: the French "Rangis" (234 ha) and the Russian "Foodcity" (104 ha). There are potential investors for construction.

Taking into account the increase in cargo traffic from PRC and modernisation of the Kolzhat crossing point, construction of an international digital transport and logistics hub "Dry Port - Kolzhat" is planned in Uygur district of Almaty region. The project is divided into 2 phases, and its implementation period is from 2023 to 2027. It is envisaged to build temporary storage warehouses, service centres for transport, creation of services for rendering state, brokerage and auxiliary services and a centre for export of goods. The territory of 8.5 thousand hectares has also been defined.

At the meeting, Serik Zhumangarin heard the progress of work on the implementation of projects industrial trade and logistics complex "Alatau", the Centre for Cross-Border Trade "Eurasia", the International Centre for Industrial Cooperation "Central Asia" and the creation of the Khorgos hub. At the next meeting it was decided to consider the concept of development of the Khorgos International Centre for Industrial Cooperation CIC.