Kazakhstan looks to double Asia-Europe containerised cargo traffic

Asia-Europe containerised cargo traffic: The volume of cargo traffic passing through Kazakhstan on its way between Asia and Europe is on track to hit 1.7 million 20-foot equivalent units annually by 2020 after volumes passing through the Central Asian country rocketed by 34% year-over-year to around 47,000 TEUs in 2014, according to Askar Mamin, president of Kazakhstan’s national rail operator Temir Zholy.
Kazakhstan was gradually becoming one of the biggest transit hubs on at least three Asia-Europe trade routes, he said this week – between Europe and China; from China through Turkey to the Caucasus; and between China, Russia, India and Gulf countries.
The number of container trains transiting Kazakhstan increased by 57% to 1,290 from 2014 to 2015, he added, and while door-to-door containerized rail transport continues to be more than twice as expensive as  sea transport, it was almost three times faster. Going forward, sea transit is likely to remain cheaper as the Asia-Europe spot rate has fallen for most of the year due to overcapacity, a  trend that seems unlikely to reverse itself anytime soon, with some analysts saying that this overcapacity will last at least until the end of 2016. This week, the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index put the cost of shipping a 40-foot container from Shanghai to North Europe at $573, down 50% from the same week last year with the rate for transportation from Shanghai to the Mediterranean down 61% to $510.