Kazakhstan seeks to raise Middle Corridor capacity to 20 million tons

Kazakhstan plans to increase the capacity of the Middle Corridor to 20 million tons of cargo per year, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev made the remarks at the first Central Asia-Republic of Korea Summit, Report informs, citing the press service of the Kazakh president.

He said the role of Central Asia as an important link between East and West is growing amid changes in global supply chains.

Tokayev said Kazakhstan aims to increase the total volume of transit cargo passing through its territory to 100 million tons annually. In this context, the country is paying particular attention to developing the Middle Corridor, also known as the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route.

"Over the past six years, cargo volumes along this route have increased fivefold. In the foreseeable future, we intend to increase its capacity to 20 million tons per year," Tokayev said.

He also said the Middle Corridor could potentially be integrated with the TRIPP transport initiative, known as the Trump Route.

Tokayev noted that South Korea currently conducts multimodal transportation to Central Asia through the Kazakhstan-China logistics terminal at the port of Lianyungang.

He proposed combining the potential of these routes to create a continuous transport and logistics chain connecting South Korea, Central Asia and Europe.

The Middle Corridor connects China with European countries through Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

According to the Kazakh side, cargo transportation along the route increased by 62% in 2025, while container transportation rose 2.7 times to 56,500 containers.

The current capacity of the Middle Corridor is around 6 million tons of cargo and up to 182,000 containers annually. Kazakhstan plans to increase this capacity to 10 million tons per year by 2030.