On June 24, 2026, the Ministry of Transport of Kazakhstan, in conjunction with the official news agency Qazinform, announced the latest progress of the Aktau Port expansion project. This key project, fully undertaken by China Port Engineering Co., Ltd., focuses on upgrading the efficiency of international transportation routes across the Caspian Sea. Currently, all preliminary survey work has been completed, and the progress of the core project far exceeds expectations.

The core of the project revolves around two major areas: deep water dredging and land reclamation supporting construction. The 785 meter containment dam has completed 680 meters of construction, and professional dredging ships and large equipment are gradually entering the site. The construction team has also completed on-site deployment. According to the plan, the core dredging operation will start in late July, and the entire project will be completed and put into use by the end of the year.

Directly solve the long-standing bottleneck of shallow water

Insufficient water depth has always been an old problem in Aktau Port, where large cargo ships cannot pass at full capacity, seriously slowing down the port's turnover efficiency. After the completion of this expansion, the navigation depth of the port area will be increased to 6 to 7 meters, completely breaking the shallow water navigation restrictions. All cross-border cargo ships can enter and exit the port with full load, and the efficiency of loading, unloading, and transfer will be directly improved. The navigation safety factor in the Caspian Sea area will also be improved synchronously.

In the first five months of 2026, the container transportation volume of the trans Caspian China Europe route surged by 30% year-on-year, indicating that market demand has already exploded. This port upgrade happens to hit the capacity gap and can directly alleviate the transportation pressure on the current channel. According to Kazakhstan's plan, the annual freight capacity of the Central Corridor is expected to increase from the current 6 million tons to 10 million tons by 2028, with an overall capacity increase of over 60%. Aktau Port is the core hardware base supporting this goal.

Digital synchronization keeps up

Kazakhstan is not only focusing on port infrastructure, but also promoting the construction of a smart logistics system. The cross-border transport digital management system has been officially launched, which has realized online interchange and real-time verification of road transport licenses with Azerbaijan, Türkiye, Kyrgyzstan and other countries along the line. The upgrading of land and sea infrastructure combined with digital empowerment will significantly improve the customs clearance efficiency and transportation stability of the entire Central Asia Europe Corridor. Keywords: port expansion, frontline engineering

As the core hub along the Caspian Sea, the expansion of Aktau Port has directly opened up the land and sea intermodal transport congestion points in Central Asia, Caspian Sea to Transcaucasia, Türkiye and Europe, and Kazakhstan's position as a trade hub in Eurasia will be further consolidated.Editor/Cheng Liting