Kazakhstan negotiates with Port of Antwerp-Bruges on Middle Corridor — Euronews
Kazakhstan is negotiating a possible partnership between Belgium’s Port of Antwerp-Bruges and the Kazakh ports of Aktau and Kuryk on the Caspian Sea. The initiative is intended to help expand trade via the Middle Corridor, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said at a meeting of the Belgian-Kazakh Business Council in Astana, Euronews reports.
Port cooperation and logistics
Tokayev noted that Kazakhstan is investing in railways, roads, seaports and terminals along the route. According to him, Belgium’s experience as a major European logistics hub is valuable for the country. Potential cooperation between the ports could open broader markets for Kazakh metals, petrochemical and agricultural products.
Belgian King Philippe supported the development of the Middle Corridor and called for strengthening its links with European ports, railways and logistics hubs. The Middle Corridor, also known as the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, connects China and Europe via Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea and the South Caucasus.
Nurlan Zhakupov, head of Kazakhstan’s sovereign fund Samruk-Kazyna, said that talks with the Port of Antwerp-Bruges are already underway. Kazakhstan seeks to use the Belgian port’s expertise and eventually conclude specific agreements and logistics contracts. At the same time, he stressed that the route’s viability will depend on its economic feasibility.
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Route figures and obstacles
Dave van den Bos, CEO of Ahlers Logistics, named coordination among the numerous companies and authorities involved in a single shipment as one of the main problems. By his estimate, up to 15 different entities may be involved in delivering cargo from Europe to Kazakhstan. He also pointed to the need to digitalize procedures, as document-related delays at borders can slow movement even when infrastructure capacity is available.
According to van den Bos, cargo transit time from Europe to Kazakhstan has been reduced from about 80 to 40–60 days, but port congestion and weather conditions on the Caspian Sea continue to cause delays. Kazakhstan’s railway company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy reported that about 44,000 twenty-foot equivalent containers were transported via the Middle Corridor in the first eight months of 2026, 58% more than in the same period of the previous year. Kazakhstan intends to increase the route’s total freight volume to 10 million tonnes.
State visit by the Belgian king and queen
The discussion took place during the Belgian monarch’s first state visit to Kazakhstan and Central Asia. Seventeen agreements were concluded on the sidelines of the business forum in logistics, agriculture and food processing, artificial intelligence, energy, healthcare and manufacturing. According to Tokayev, Belgium is among Kazakhstan’s ten largest investors, having invested more than $15 billion in the country over the past two decades.
