Press center

05.09.2024

A Chinese Company Is Interested in Developing Container Transportation through the Astrakhan Port SEZ

An agreement between the Chinese company Guangdong Xinhui Cimc Special Transportation Equipment Co., Ltd, KITON-GROUP LLC, and SEZ Lotus JSC was signed via videoconference at the office of the Management Company of the Caspian Cluster. The event took place within the framework of the Eastern Economic Forum, which is being held in Vladivostok these days.

 The agreement is aimed at the development of logistics and container transportation along the International North-South Transport Corridor, including the use of the infrastructure of the Port Special Economic Zone in the Astrakhan Region. In addition, the parties will exchange information on issues related to the development of the region's external economic activity and cooperation relations.

 According to the information of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Energy of the Astrakhan Region, the transshipment of import cargos through the seaports of Astrakhan and Olya for seven months of 2024 compared to the same period last year increased by 64%, handling of export and cabotage cargos increased by 30% and 29%, respectively. The cargo turnover of the Astrakhan and Olya seaports in this period reached 3.2 million tons, which is 36% more than in the same period last year. Grain is the main part of the cargo turnover. The volume of grain transshipment amounted to 1.8 million tons in 2024 – this is more than 50% of the total cargo volume. In general, the range of goods includes food products, lumber, cement, metals, chemical products and fertilizers, polypropylene, equipment, automobiles and other goods.

 To increase the cargo turnover of the INSTC, Russia is taking various measures, such as deepening of the Volga-Caspian Shipping Canal, construction of road infrastructure, container ships and other vessels to operate in the Caspian Sea, developing logistics solutions, and so on. In 2020, by order of the Government of the Russian Federation, a port special economic zone was established in the Liman District of the Astrakhan Region, and it is intended to become an important logistics hub on the INSTC and provide logistics along the Trans-Caspian route.

 – KITON-GROUP LLC has been engaged in cargo transportation since 2009, and Guangdong Xinhui Cimc Special Transportation Equipment Co., Ltd. produces cargo, specialized, and modular containers, as well as vehicles. Cooperation with such partners will become a good impetus for the development of transportation, including those using the infrastructure of the Port SEZ in Astrakhan. The first domestic container ships, which will be capable of carrying international standard containers, including refrigerated ones, are currently under construction at the Lotos Shipyard (Southern Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Center, incorporated in the USC), the anchor tenant of the industrial SEZ Lotus. This will help to consolidate the work on launching tariff routes of the INSTC, to make them regular, and thus to provide a permanent cargo flow through the Astrakhan Region, – comments Andrey Nalimov, Deputy Director General of SEZ Lotus JSC.