Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and China Set Up JV to Construct New Cargo Terminal at Port of Baku in Alat

An agreement has been signed between Taleh Ziyadov, Director-General of Baku International Sea Trade Port (Port of Baku), Nurlan Sauranbayev, Chairman of the Board of Kazakhstan Railways (KTZh) and Yuan Xiaojun, CEO of Xi'an Free Trade Port Construction and Operation Co., Ltd. The agreement was signed in the presence of Ruslan Alikhanov, CEO of Azerbaijan Investment Holding and Nurlan Zhakupov, Chairman of the Board of Samruk-Kazyna JSC, during the COP29 Azerbaijan conference held in Baku.

The goal of this agreement is to implement the construction of an intermodal cargo terminal at the Port of Baku, located in the Alat settlement, in order to increase and develop the port’s cargo handling capacity. The project plans to establish and develop the infrastructure of an intermodal terminal on an initial area of 40 hectares.

Considering the advantages of the Port of Baku infrastructure, the importance of Kazakhstan Railways in providing services on the Middle Corridor and the flexibility of the Xi'an Free Trade Port company in organizing container trains on the China-Europe route, this agreement has great significance for all three countries in the logistics sector.

Other benefits of this agreement include a constant increase in the volume of container trains sent via the Middle Corridor along the China-Europe route, reduction in unloading time and transportation costs, shorter reloading times, and maintenance of stable volumes of cargo transportation.