Kazakhstan is building its own fleet for the Middle Corridor

Kazakhstan continues to expand its transport and logistics infrastructure along the Middle Corridor. The state-owned railway company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) plans to build its own fleet for transport across the Caspian and Black Seas and to establish a cargo airline.

The goal is to establish Kazakhstan as a central logistics and transit hub between China, Central Asia, and Europe.

Six new cargo ships ordered

According to KTZ’s press office, the company has signed contracts for the construction of a total of six multipurpose ships. Four ships will be built by the Chinese shipyard Jiangsu Haizhongzhou Shipping Industry, and two more will be constructed at the Baku Shipyard in Baku.

Each ship is designed to carry up to 537 standard containers (TEU) and will be deployed both in the Caspian Sea and on routes across the Black Sea.

“This initiative will ensure the efficient integration of maritime transport into the unified logistics chain of the Middle Corridor,” KTZ stated.

Plans for a proprietary cargo airline

In parallel, KTZ is also working on establishing its own air cargo airline. Last fall, the subsidiary KTZ Express submitted the documents for registering a cargo airline.

A fleet of ten cargo aircraft is planned. Kazakh authorities originally hoped that the first cargo flight would take off in early 2026. However, operations have not yet commenced.

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev aims to develop Kazakhstan into a major air cargo hub between Europe and Asia.

New Investments with China

In addition to expanding its transport infrastructure, Kazakhstan is also deepening its economic cooperation with China.

An investment agreement was signed in Astana for the construction of a grain processing plant in the Akmola region. The project is being implemented in partnership with the company Asia Altyn Dan, which is backed by a consortium of Chinese firms.

The investment amounts to approximately 300 billion tenge, equivalent to about 640 million U.S. dollars.

In addition, between September and March of the 2025/26 fiscal year, Kazakhstan exported a record amount of nearly 2.2 million tons of feed meal to China—more than twice as much as in the same period the previous year.

Closer Cooperation in the Technology Sector

Cooperation between the two countries is also growing in the technology sector. According to reports, the Kazakh startup ApartX has entered into a white-label partnership with a Chinese manufacturer of smart access systems. The goal is a joint market entry in Germany.

While the Chinese partner supplies smart door locks and logistics, ApartX provides software for data protection and digital document management in accordance with German standards.

Central Asia Intensifies Relations with China

Other Central Asian states are also continuing to expand their relations with China.

Kyrgyzstan once again sent a high-level delegation to China, including the Minister of Energy and the President’s Special Envoy. Concrete results, however, remained limited for the time being. Among other things, a visit by a delegation from the Chinese province of Zhejiang was agreed upon, in which representatives from Alibaba and Geely are to participate.

A high-level delegation from Uzbekistan led by Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov traveled to Hong Kong, where 15 economic agreements were signed. These include agricultural projects worth more than $550 million, as well as a 1,500-megawatt energy storage system in the Samarkand region.

In addition, Uzbekistan Airways announced new direct flights to the Chinese coastal city of Guangzhou.

China is also active in Turkmenistan

In Turkmenistan, representatives of Chinese telecommunications companies such as Huawei and ZTE held talks with government officials regarding the expansion of AI technologies and so-called “smart cities.”

In addition, Turkmenistan is testing seven Chinese cotton seed varieties across 650 hectares using agricultural technologies from Xinjiang.