Turkey's YDA and ASFAT could build a shipyard near Kazakhstan's Kuryk seaport

ASTANA. Dec 23 (Interfax) - Turkish companies plan to build a shipyard near the Kuryk seaport in Kazakhstan, Kazakh Transport Minister Marat Karabayev said.

"Another problem is the lack of seagoing ships. At the moment, there are only Azerbaijan-owned ferries running between Kuryk and Alyat. We need at least seven vessels. For us to be able to build them, Turkey's YDA and ASFAT plan to build a shipyard near the Kuryk port," Karabayev said during government hour in the Majilis, the lower chamber of the parliament.

The Transport Ministry earlier mulled over the construction of a shipyard on the Caspian coast Sea to support development of the domestic maritime fleet. The ministry said in February 2024 that Kazakhstan needed to build ten new vessels, including three tankers, three bulk carriers and four universal ferries.

The Kuryk seaport is part of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route. It has a ferry complex for cargo transfer from rail and truck designed to handle grain, petroleum products, fertilizers, chemicals and other types of cargo. Throughput capacity is 6 million tonnes per year, including 4.1 million tonnes of rail and 1.9 million tonnes of truck cargo.