Passenger ferries could return between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan after six-year break

Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are considering restoring passenger ferry services across the Caspian Sea, six years after the route was suspended.

Kazakhstan has proposed resuming passenger services between the port of Kuryk and Baku, and Azerbaijan has backed the initiative, Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Alim Bayel, said.

Before the service was suspended in 2020, around 1,500 passengers a year travelled by ferry between the two countries. Kazakhstan expects demand to grow if the route reopens. No date has yet been set, however, and neither a timetable nor ticket prices have been announced. Transport authorities in both countries still have yet to agree on the technical and organisational details.

A new option for travel

Most passenger travel between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan is currently by air, with around 37 flights a week operating on several routes. Citizens of both countries can stay visa-free for up to 90 days under an agreement signed in 2002, but travelling across the Caspian by sea has not been an option for passengers since 2020.

Bayel said restoring the ferry service could help increase tourism and travel between the two countries, as well as broaden the role of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, better known as the Middle Corridor.

• Kazakhstan boosts Middle Corridor as Asia-Europe freight grows

Freight traffic, meanwhile, has continued across the same stretch of the Caspian.

Ferries operate between Kuryk and Alat, near Baku, and around 90 per cent of cargo leaving Kuryk is bound for Baku. The Azerbaijani route also dates back to the early development of Kuryk: the port’s railway ferry terminal opened in December 2016 and reached full capacity in August 2018, with Baku becoming its first destination before other routes were added.

For passengers, the crossing did not operate to a fixed timetable.

Departures depended on cargo volumes and weather conditions, with the journey usually taking between 18 and 24 hours. Fares were reported at around $70-100 per passenger, while some estimates put a berth in a four- or six-person cabin at $80-120 and a seat in the common lounge at about $50. Those figures relate to the former service, and there has been no indication of how much tickets could cost if passenger ferries return.

Expanded port infrastructure

The proposal comes as Kazakhstan expands its Caspian port infrastructure and capacity along the Middle Corridor, which connects Central Asia with the South Caucasus across the Caspian Sea.

Kazakhstan plans to increase the capacity of its Caspian ports from around 21.8 million tonnes to 30 million tonnes by 2030, while the corridor’s annual capacity is expected to rise from 6 million to 10 million tonnes.

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