Azerbaijan receives first cargo from Kazakhstan’s Kuryk port

By Azernews

By Amina Nazarli

The first cargo has arrived at the Baku International Sea Trade Port from Kazakhstan’s new port Kuryk, Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping CJSC reported.

Freight cars were sent from the Kuryk port on March 24 on the Barda ferry, belonging to the Azerbaijani company, and they arrived at the Baku International Sea Trade Port in Alat the next day.

The company reported that management of the Kuryk port observed the mooring of the Barda ferry and the process of loading of the cars, both of which proceeded successfully.

The Kuryk port with a total area of 40 hectares is located on the Trans-Caspian international transport route, which is of great importance for handling the cargo going via this route. The construction of the ferry complex in the Kazakh port of Kuryk is planned to be fully completed in 2017.

The port is expected to allow transporting goods to neighboring countries without unloading cars and is focused on handling wide range of goods. The new ferry terminal is expected to allow Kazakhstan to export oil, polyethylene, iron ore and concentrates to world markets through Baku. 

“The role of the Kuryk ferry complex will significantly increase in the future. Infrastructure work is ongoing in the port’s territory. Currently, construction of another berth for Ro-Ro and Ro-Pax vessels is underway there,” reads the message.

The new complex is located closer to the Baku port, than the Aktau port, through which transit was carried out previously. The Aktau terminal which is currently considered to be the main gate of Kazakhstan in the Caspian Sea implements its operations at the breaking point of its carrying capacity.

Voyage from Kuryk to Baku takes 18 hours, while from Aktau it takes 22 hours.

Experience of Azerbaijani seamen and the Baku International Sea Trade Port was taken as a basis during the construction of the Kuryk port. It is also noteworthy that the first vessel sent from Kuryk was the Azerbaijani ferry Shahdag, which was sent in the test mode on December 7, 2016.

Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping is the sole operator of ferries in the Caspian Sea.

Kazakh Ministry of Investments and Development earlier reported that by 2020 the country aims to increase the volume of container transportation to two million containers, according to the ministry.