Fertilizers via the Middle Corridor: ferry slots and competition with project cargo

In 2026 fertilizers became one of the loudest bulk flows on the Middle Corridor. After the escalation around Iran, commercial nitrogen-fertilizer traffic through the Strait of Hormuz effectively went to zero (WTO tracking: near-zero from early March, and it held through the summer). In parallel, in May 2026 Russia banned carriage of Kazakh sulfur to its seaports — the traditional outlet of about 3.5 million tonnes a year via Ust-Luga is closed for seaborne export.

The alternative is rail across the Caspian (Aktau/Kuryk or Turkmenbashi → Alyat) and on to Batumi/Poti. Since 2021 Batumi has had the Trammo/Wondernet terminal (over 1.5 million t/year, about 80,000 t of covered storage, loading about 1,200 t/h). The crossing takes 17–24 hours, but ferries sail roughly every 3–5 days without a fixed timetable — the queue stretches the plan.

For an out-of-gauge and project-cargo carrier the point is not nitrogen itself, but competition for a ferry slot: fertilizer hoppers move on the rail ferry without transshipment, while lowbeds and RoRo sit in the same Caspian bottleneck. When planning China–Kazakhstan–Caspian–Caucasus, budget a buffer for the ferry and do not mix bulk and OOG in one window without a confirmed slot.