Aktau: ~6 Mt to Caspian states in 2026 and 10 ships on the Baku line

In 2026 the port of Aktau plans to send on the order of 6 Mt to Caspian littoral states, according to Galym Aitzhanov, acting chairman of the board of Aktau International Commercial Sea Port (24KZ / Korabel, 19 September).

Aktau’s capacity is up to 11.8 Mt a year. 10 cargo ships run regularly on the Aktau–Baku line; three were added in August 2026. The aim by 2028 is to go from 10 to 20 ships on the Kazakhstan side, six of them new.

Last year 4.909 Mt was shipped; this year’s plan is about a million tonnes higher. Containers: 63,000 TEU last year, with capacity now to handle 93,000 TEU. The priority is TITR.

The port of Kuryk: up to 7 Mt a year, of which the ferry complex is about 6 Mt and grain up to about 1 Mt. General director Yerkin Nygmetov: digitalisation by the third quarter of 2026; operations after a vessel arrives cut from 2–3 hours to 30–40 minutes; after modernisation of two berths, loading from 18 to 12 hours. By 2028 Kuryk’s fleet adds five more modern ferries.

At Aktau, falling Caspian levels mean dredging at the berths: the plan is to remove 1.3 million m³ of soil, to be used in building two new berths.

For OOG, more ships and a shorter ferry cycle are ramp windows and weight/dimension clearance, not an abstract rise in tonnage.