In July, in Shanghai, Kazakhstan Railway Company signed a cooperation agreement worth approximately $400 million with multiple Chinese enterprises, covering ports, shipping, digitization, and settlement mechanisms. The port contract has just been signed, and the letter of intent for the second phase of the Aktau Port container hub has been followed up. This is a crucial leap in the cooperation between China and Kazakhstan in logistics, from connecting points and lines to forming a comprehensive network.

Aktau Port moves from blueprint to operational area

On July 15, 2026, Lianyungang Port Holding Group signed a four party agreement with KTZ, China Railway Container and COSCO Shipping Container to build a three hub integrated operation pattern around the container hub of Aktau Port, Khorgos Dongmen Dry Port and Lianyungang Railway Station. The first phase of the Aktau Port container hub was put into operation on July 14th, and the letter of intent for the second phase was immediately signed. At the same time, Lianyungang Port has reached an agreement with KTZ for information exchange and electronic transport document exchange, paving the way for the full logistics data connectivity.

The capacity improvement of the Trans Caspian International Transport Corridor has a timetable - it is expected that the freight volume will increase to 5.2 million tons in 2026, and the container transportation scale is expected to increase from 77000 TEUs in 2025 to 300000 TEUs in 2029. The cooperation in shipbuilding is advancing synchronously, and KTZ has signed a contract with Jiangsu Haizhongzhou Shipbuilding Industry to help Kazakhstan establish its own Caspian Sea fleet and solve the bottleneck of maritime transportation capacity.

Digitalization and dual currency settlement

Digital transformation has become the core highlight of this cooperation. KTZ collaborates with Huawei Technologies Kazakhstan, Nantong Nize Intelligent Technology and other enterprises to promote digitalization of transportation management, IT infrastructure construction and smart port construction. The cross-border logistics information sharing platform will utilize big data, IoT, and artificial intelligence technologies to optimize train scheduling, cargo tracking, and customs clearance processes.

A more breakthrough is the implementation of the dual currency settlement model of RMB and Tenge. This not only reduces the risk of fluctuations in the US dollar exchange rate, but also promotes the improvement of the settlement system for the Chinese and Kazakh currencies. In the first half of the year, 11178 China Europe freight trains were operated, a year-on-year increase of 20%, and 3700 trains were operated at the Alashankou Port on the Western Corridor, a year-on-year increase of 22.7%. Key words: logistics order, the Belt and Road, cross Caspian corridor

On the signing table of a $400 million cooperation, ports, railways, data, and currency are all traded simultaneously - this is the complete picture of interconnectivity.Editor/Cheng Liting