Baku (TDI): Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and China have signed a landmark agreement to establish a joint intermodal cargo terminal at the Port of Alat, located near Azerbaijan’s capital.
The deal, formalized on Tuesday, involves key stakeholders, including the SK-AIH Investment Fund Ltd (Samruk-Kazyna, Azerbaijan Investment Holding), Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (Kazakhstan’s national railway company), Baku International Sea Trade Port, and Chinese Xi’an Free Trade Port Construction & Operation Co. Ltd.
The new terminal, located in Azerbaijan’s Port of Alat, is set to enhance cargo traffic along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), also known as the Middle Corridor.
The terminal aims to reduce transit times, transportation costs, and transshipment delays, boosting container train traffic between China and Europe.
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The facility will feature a universal cargo yard, a five thousand square-meter covered warehouse complex, and a container yard with a capacity for over one thousand containers.
The joint project is expected to significantly boost trade volumes, with Kazakhstan and China targeting 600 container trains per year by 2025–2026, 1,000 trains by 2027, and 2,000 by 2029.
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In 2023, transit volumes between China and Europe via Kazakhstan increased by 65%, reaching 2.76 million tons, up from 1.7 million tons in 2022.
The TITR, bypassing Russia, is becoming an increasingly vital trade route linking China to Europe through Central Asia and the Caucasus.
