In the first seven months of this year, Kazakhstan Railways' traffic volume in the middle corridor increased by 86 percent compared to 2022. Total shipments reached 1.6 million tons, with most of the increase coming from exports.

According to KTZ statistics, of all the recorded freight volume, 1.2 million tons of cargo was exported. This is an increase of 2.5 times compared with the same period last year. The growth of Caspian Sea ports is also evident. Aktau Port, for example, saw a 24 percent increase in bulk cargo volume in the first seven months of this year.

Port Poti is also growing

The port of Poti in Georgia has seen an 80 percent increase in eastbound cargo volume this year compared to 2022. Westbound growth was less pronounced, up 9 percent compared to last year. The growing throughput of the Middle Corridor poses a great challenge to the handling capacity of the port.

Zeyba Agalarova, business development manager at Nurminen Logistics, told RailFreight.com in a previous interview that the ports of Potti and Aktaw are currently facing a lack of platforms, which leads to long waits for containers to be reloaded. Agalarova explained that congestion can last for weeks. Editor/GaoLiMei