Kazakhstan seeks Antwerp-Bruges partnership with Aktau and Kuryk on the Middle Corridor

Kazakhstan is seeking a partnership between the Port of Antwerp-Bruges and its Caspian ports of Aktau and Kuryk to expand trade along the Middle Corridor, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said at the Belgium–Kazakhstan Business Council in Astana, Euronews reported on 14 October 2026.

Tokayev said Kazakhstan is investing heavily in railways, roads, seaports and terminals along the route. “We anticipate a concrete partnership linking the ports of Antwerp-Bruges with the ports of Aktau and Kuryk. This could open wider markets for our metals, petrochemicals and agricultural products,” he said, as quoted by Euronews.

A day earlier, Samruk-Kazyna CEO Nurlan Zhakupov told reporters that talks with Antwerp-Bruges were already under way and that Kazakhstan wanted the Belgian hub’s expertise and eventual logistics contracts. According to KTZ, the Middle Corridor moved about 44,000 TEU in January–August 2026, up 58% year on year. Ahlers Logistics CEO Dave van den Bos said Europe–Kazakhstan transit times had fallen from around 80 days to roughly 40–60, while coordination among many parties and document digitisation remain bottlenecks.

For Gateway Logistics project cargo this is a European link into the Caspian leg: industrial and energy equipment from Europe via the Caucasus and Caspian into Kazakhstan and Central Asia, 45 t / 5-axle and 90 t / 10-axle lowbeds, and multimodal handovers through Aktau and Kuryk.

Source: Euronews, 14 October 2026.