Kazakhstan offers China to use Trans-Caspian route more actively

Kazakh Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov suggested that Chinese transport companies and logistics operators actively use the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route for container shipments from China to Europe, TASS reports.

"To further increase container traffic on the China-Europe route, we propose to use the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route more actively. It will reduce the time of transportation of goods by almost half," Smailov said at the opening ceremony of the 6th China International Import Exhibition in Shanghai.

According to Smailov, currently about 85% of all land transit traffic from China to Europe falls on Kazakhstan. As the Prime Minister noted, the construction of Kazakhstan terminals in the city of Xi'an and the Georgian port of Poti is now in full swing. It is planned to build a third railway checkpoint on the Kazakh-Chinese border, dry ports at the Bakhty and Kalzhat crossings, a container hub in Aktau, as well as the expansion of port facilities on the Black Sea along the Middle Corridor.

The Prime Minister invited Chinese transport companies to take part in these projects, and also invited "transport and logistics operators to actively use the cross-border transport infrastructure available in Kazakhstan."