Kazakhstan has begun building the Beineu-Saksaulsk highway, a new Middle Corridor link expected to shorten freight journeys between China and Europe by around 1,000 kilometres and reduce delivery times by up to three days.
The project comes as the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, commonly known as the Middle Corridor, plays an increasingly important role in trade between Asia and Europe. The new highway will provide a more direct connection between border crossings and Kazakhstan’s Caspian ports of Aktau and Kuryk, strengthening the trade route linking China with European markets via Central Asia and the Caspian Sea.
For Kazakhstan, the road is part of a broader effort to transform its strategic location into greater transport capacity. The country shares the world’s longest continuous land border with China and has direct access to the Caspian Sea, positioning it between markets with a combined population of more than three billion people.
Over the past seven years, Kazakhstan has invested around $35 billion in transport infrastructure, including railways, roads, ports, airports and digital logistics systems. The investment is intended to support growing international trade and strengthen the resilience of supply chains across Eurasia.
That push has become increasingly important as manufacturers and logistics companies seek to diversify the routes used to move goods between Asia and Europe. Against this backdrop, the Middle Corridor has developed from an alternative route into one of the fastest-growing overland connections between the two regions.
The shift is already visible in freight volumes. Cargo transported along the corridor has increased fivefold over the past seven years, exceeding 4.5 million tonnes in 2025. Container traffic reached approximately 77,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), while Kazakhstan and its regional partners aim to increase annual capacity to 300,000 TEUs by 2029.
The growth of the corridor is also increasing Kazakhstan’s importance within the wider Eurasian transport network. According to the OECD, the country already accounts for around 83 per cent of overland freight traffic between China and Europe, reflecting the scale of its role in moving goods across the continent.
U.S. President Donald Trump has called for Iran to pay compensation for decades of deaths and damage, adding a new demand to peace talks as Tehran see...
North Korea has deployed troops, weapons and now, according to a Ukrainian intelligence official, a missile unit to support Russia's war against Ukrai...
Kazakhstan has begun building the Beineu-Saksaulsk highway, a new Middle Corridor link expected to shorten freight journeys between China and Europe b...
One hundred years after the First World War and more than eighty years after the devastation of the Second World War gave rise to the United Nations, humanity once again finds itself living in an age of permanent crisis.
Flights arriving at Catania airport in eastern Sicily were suspended after volcanic ash from a new eruption of Mount Etna drifted into the airspace around the airport, disrupting operations at one of Italy’s busiest aviation hubs.
For months, efforts to secure the Red Sea have focused on what is happening in the water. Naval deployments have increased, governments have expanded maritime cooperation and shipping companies have adapted to persistent security threats.
Greenland has issued a “strong warning” to a U.S. oil company linked to President Donald Trump after drilling equipment was brought ashore without the required government approvals, according to British media.
A deal on a new route for vessels through the Strait of Hormuz is "very close," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said, while warning that the reopening of the waterway depends on the U.S. meeting other conditions, including paying compensation to Iran.
Russia has welcomed what it describes as a shift in Georgia’s approach to the August 2008 war, praising statements that place responsibility for the conflict on former President Mikheil Saakashvili and his government.
Uzbekistan has secured preferential tariffs for fertiliser and petroleum product shipments through Kazakhstan’s Kuryk port to Georgian ports, as Uzbek cargo volumes across the Caspian continue to rise.
Police in eastern India used tear gas, batons and water cannon on Monday to disperse thousands of young protesters marching on the Jharkhand state legislature over alleged irregularities in civil service examinations.
Rising temperatures are threatening Georgia’s farms, energy supply and banking sector, with experts warning that the country has a narrow window to prepare before the economic costs grow significantly.
Pakistan is seeking to strengthen its energy security through a proposed Gulf oil storage scheme, $5 billion in refinery upgrades and renewed offshore exploration with Türkiye as global supply disruptions expose its reliance on imports.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment