28 august 2024 — 16:01
In the first seven months of 2024, the volume of traffic on the TMTM route amounted to 2.56 million tons, which is 63% more than in the same period last year (1.57 million tons). This was reported in the press service of the government, writes Kazakhstan Today.
According to the government, work is underway to implement a roadmap to eliminate bottlenecks and develop a Medium Corridor between Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkey and between Kazakhstan and Georgia by 2027, which will increase the corridor's capacity to 10 million tons per year.
To ensure a sufficient volume of transit cargo from east to west, in November 2023, Kazakhstan and China signed a number of agreements on the development of the Trans-Caspian International Transport route, including China-Europe container trains. These agreements were ratified by the law of the Republic of Kazakhstan on July 1, 2024.
To increase the attractiveness and competitiveness of the route, a single multimodal service has been created throughout its entire length.
A joint venture Middle Corridor Multimodal Ltd. has been established on the basis of the Astana International Financial Center, uniting the railway administrations of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Georgia to manage the route on a parity basis. Digitalization and optimization of transport operations, including border crossings and terminal procedures, play an important role in this process.
To improve the logistics service on the principle of a single window, the IT systems of JSC NC KTZ were integrated with the customs module of the DTC platform (Digital Trade Corridor) - Tez Customs, developed by Global DTC Kazakhstan Ltd. On December 5, 2023, the roadmap for interaction between KTZ and Global DTC Kazakhstan Ltd for the implementation of the DTC platform was approved. Currently, the information systems of the railways of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have already been integrated into the platform, and similar work is planned with Georgian railways.
Within the framework of the joint venture "China-Kazakhstan Trade and Logistics Company", established in 2023 with the participation of Xi'an Free Trade Port Construction and Operation Co., Ltd. and JSC NC KTZ (represented by JSC Kedentransservice), a terminal was built in the dry port of Xi'an. The terminal, opened on February 28, 2024, consolidates 40% of all container trains going towards Kazakhstan, which contributed to a significant increase in transit traffic through TMTM. Since the beginning of the year, transit by TMTM from China has shown an almost twofold increase.
By the end of 2023, the volume of traffic on the TMTM route increased by 65% compared to 2022, amounting to 2.76 million tons (in 2022 - 1.7 million tons). In the first 7 months of 2024, shipments amounted to 2.56 million tons, which is 63% more than in the same period last year (1.57 million tons).
These achievements confirm the effectiveness of joint work with partners and the importance of developing the Middle Corridor. Interest in its establishment as a stable and competitive route is shown not only by the countries along the corridor, but also by the regions of Southeast Asia, the Persian Gulf and Europe," the government noted.