The movement of freight trains from Central Asian countries, including Uzbekistan, towards the Kuryk port on the Caspian Sea has been temporarily suspended. The Council of Railway Transport of the CIS member countries has banned the dispatch of freight trains until November 20 of this year.
This measure was implemented at the initiative of Kazakhstan’s national railway operator “Kazakhstan Temir Zholy,” and it directly affected cargo shippers from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. The main reason for this decision was the excessive number of freight cars loaded in the port area, the number of which exceeded 700 wagons coming from Central Asia.
An additional factor complicating the situation is the planned repair work scheduled in part of the port during November. The Kuryk port, located in Kazakhstan’s Mangystau region and operating since 2018, is a significant part of the transit route connecting Central Asia to Europe via Azerbaijan.
The port infrastructure consists of a modern logistics center and a ferry complex that can simultaneously process up to 54 wagons of cargo. Through this sea hub, various goods are delivered from Central Asia to European markets.
This suspension has created certain difficulties for export-import operations in the region, demonstrating the growing demand for transport corridors and the need for their development and modernization to ensure uninterrupted delivery. The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), of which the Kuryk port is a part, is considered one of the main Eurasian corridors, and enables shipment times from China to Europe to be reduced by a factor of three compared to the traditional sea route.
