Asia – Europe container shipping increases 100 times over 5 years
K.Alpysbayev reported about completion of Borzhakty – Yersai railway, dry port and infrastructure at the Khorgos – Eastern Gates, expansion of Aktau port northwards. The first startup facilities of Kuryk port and Almaty – Shu railway will be commissioned by the year-end. On the threshold of EXPO 2017 international exhibition, the company is implementing projects on constructing new airport terminal and new railway station in Astana.
“Construction of modern transport and logistics centers in Aktobe, Ust-Kamenogorsk and Aktau in partnership with the private sector is scheduled for 2018. The external terminal network will be rolled out over 2017-2019 at the points of consolidation and distribution of cargo flows in China, Russia, Central Asia, Turkey, the Persian Gulf, India, and Europe. The projects will create 22,000 new jobs, including 13,300 in operation,” K. Alpysbayev noted.
According to the head of the company, Kazakhstan Temir Zholy has been introducing a set of measures aimed at developing transport and logistics services and integration into the international transport corridors.
Thus, in 2011 the company launched high-speed container trains. In 2016, the volume of container traffic in Asia – Europe is 100 times higher compared to 2011. By 2020, Kazakhstan dry cargo and ferry port will be increased to 20 units, which will increase Kazakhstan`s share in maritime transport up to 40% (2.8 million tons a year).
“As part of China – Europe corridor development, Belarus and Kazakh railways are planning to establish joint transport and logistics company. The transit carriage at the North – South corridors is also being actively developed. Unified tariffs have been approved jointly with our partners within the corridor`s development. A container train has been launched this year en Yiwu – Tehran route,” K.Alpysbayev informed.
As head of the company noted, all these works enabled Kazakhstan to climb up in Logistics Performance Index from 88th to 77th line (out of 160), which is the best result among the CIS countries.
“Our goal is to join top 40 countries with the best logistics climate by 2020. That is why, we are taking measures to improve Kazakhstan`s LPI rankings through further development of transport and logistics infrastructure, interaction with customs and other authorities as per one-stop-shop principle, expanding volumes of intermodal goods shipping, improving the use of IT in transportation, automation of customs declaring procedures,” K.Alpysbayev concluded.