Sarzha sea terminal at Kazakh port of Kuryk begins transshipment of general cargo
ASTANA. Oct 26 (Interfax) - The Sarzha marine terminal in the port of Kuryk (Mangistau region of Kazakhstan) received its first shipment of general cargo, the press service of the Ministry of Trade and Integration reported.
The first shipment was accepted at the end of September, and by the end of October, it is planned to send a ship loaded with 4,500 tonnes of metal, the Ministry said.
Work on the construction of the Sarzha multifunctional sea terminal was started in 2017 by Semurg Invest LLP. It was planned that the project, worth 154 billion tenge, would be put into operation in 2025. In August 2023, it was reported that the Emirati AD Ports Group would participate in the project to build the infrastructure of grain and multifunctional terminals as part of the Sarzha complex.
The Ministry of Trade said in a statement that all excavation work has now been completed, and railway access tracks, two berths and a general cargo terminal have been built. As part of the project, several terminals will be built (grain, general and liquid cargo, universal) as well as a transport and logistics complex.
The Ministry also notes that construction work is continuing on a container hub in the Aktau seaport, for which an area of 19 hectares has been allocated. Construction is scheduled to be completed in Q2 of 2025.
"The launch of this facility will make it possible to intensify cargo transportation along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route and redirect part of the transit cargo flowing from China to Europe, while simultaneously developing the Turkmenbashi-Aktau-PRC container line," the statement says.
The port of Kuryk is located on the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), which runs through China, Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia and further to Turkey and Europe. The volume of cargo transportation along the TMTM in 2023 could increase 17.6% compared to 2022, to 2 million tonnes. It is expected that by 2025 the route's throughput capacity will reach 10 million tonnes per year.
The official exchange rate as of October 26 is 475.86 tenge/$1.