The Minister of Transport of Kazakhstan, Marat Karabaev, noted at a government meeting that work is actively underway to increase the capacity of the transit corridors TMTM and "North-South".
He mentioned that due to changes in traditional logistics routes worldwide, the significance of the "North-South" corridor is growing daily. The current capacity of the corridor is 10 million tons per year, with 1.8 million tons of cargo transported this year. Given the corridor's potential, plans are in place to increase its capacity to 20 million tons.
To achieve this, the minister highlighted that a Roadmap for the synchronized development of the corridor with Iran, Turkmenistan, and Russia was signed in July of this year. To attract cargo traffic through this corridor, Kazakhstan has introduced special tariff discounts of 50% on transit transportation.
Additionally, efforts are being made to establish a Unified Logistics Operator on the eastern route of "North-South," similar to the United Transport and Logistics Company (UTLC). Currently, the preparatory procedures for creating a joint venture have been completed by the Kazakh and Russian sides. The Turkmen side's position on participation in this project is awaited.
It was noted that over the past 10 months, the volume of transportation through the TMTM corridor has increased by 68% and reached 3.8 million tons.