With the continuous growth of cross-border freight between China and Europe, the shortage of port capacity on the east coast of the Central Corridor is becoming increasingly prominent. The investment cooperation agreement signed in Shanghai for the Kurek Port will be implemented in a new modern port area, which will change the single port operation pattern on the east coast of the Caspian Sea and create important hardware conditions for the expansion of the China Europe South Passage.

Advantages of Port Area Layout

The Chinese side has invested 1 billion US dollars to build the first phase of the Kurek Port multifunctional terminal, which is located on the east coast of the Caspian Sea in Mangystau Oblast, adjacent to Aktau Port. The facilities of Aktau Port are becoming saturated, and a new port area is planned to be equipped with a direct railway line without the need for urban transit. The first phase of the design has an annual throughput of 15 million tons and can provide 800 long-term employment opportunities. After the project was put into operation, a dual port coordinated layout was formed on the east coast of the Caspian Sea in Kazakhstan, and the total throughput scale of regional ports saw a significant increase. In recent years, the freight volume of the middle corridor has continued to rise, increasing from 759000 tons in 2019 to 4.119 million tons in 2025. Keywords: Central Corridor, China Europe Railway Express

Outlook on Channel Value

The expansion of ports will directly benefit the development of the China Europe South Passage, improve the efficiency of cargo transshipment, optimize the structure of round-trip cargo sources, and continuously reduce comprehensive logistics costs. The current bottleneck in the corridor is distributed at both ends of the Caspian Sea shipping line. In addition to upgrading the east coast port, simultaneous renovation of the Azerbaijan port on the west coast is necessary to completely clear the blockage. With the coordinated promotion of infrastructure in various countries along the route, this channel is expected to receive more transit goods from Asia and Europe, continuously unleashing the potential for cross-border logistics cooperation.Editor/Min Jing