The first international transport and logistics exhibition Caspian Ports & Shipping 2019 held in Aktau

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May 13 – 15, 2019, the first international transport and logistics exhibition and conference Caspian Ports & Shipping 2019 was held in Aktau (Kazakhstan). The event was organized by the international company Transport Events Management Limited, with the support of Aktau Sea Commercial Port NC JSC, where TITR Association was performed as an official strategic partner.

The conference was inaugurated by the head of Mangystau region of Kazakhstan, Yeraly Tugzhanov, Deputy Chairman of Transport Committee of Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development of Kazakhstan, Kayriden Nurkenov, Chairman of the Executive Board (President) of Aktau Sea Commercial Port NC JSC, Abay Turikpenbaev and Secretary General of TITR Association, Rakhmetolla Kudaibergenov, who at the end of the opening ceremony attended the exhibition and reviewed the current activities and prospects of Middle Corridor at the TITR Association stand.

Notwithstanding that the conference was held for the first time, the number of participants exceeded 200 delegates from more than 20 countries, where 30 invited speakers represented railway, sea, transport and logistics companies, government agencies, region leading shippers, suppliers of port equipment and other business areas. The main purpose of the event was to highlight the potential of the transport infrastructure of the Caspian region and increase its transit potential. The development of the international logistics (improvement of trade routes between Asia and Europe), the possibilities of the transport infrastructure of the Caspian region, as well as the conjugation of the Caspian and Black Seas on the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (Middle Corridor) were the key topics of the conference.

On the first day of the conference, May 14, 2019, the session “International Logistics and Global Market Development and Improvement of trade routes between Asia and Europe” was held. Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of logistics of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy NC JSC Pavel Sokolov, was among the speakers at this session, who noted that in order to attract reverse freight traffic from Europe to China through the port of Aktau and to increase the competitiveness of the Middle Corridor degression factors were implemented. On the same day, Vice General Manager of COSCO SHIPPING Lines (Romania), Catalin Petre, Deputy General Director for Commercial Issues of NMSC Kazmortransflot LLP, Aidar Orzhanov, Managing Director of MSC Georgia LLC (Georgia), Alkan Alicik, Marketing Specialist of port Gdansk (Poland), Ewa Klos and many others attended as speakers of the conference.

On the second day of the conference, May 15, 2019, international experts discussed topical issues in the area of the multi-vector development of transport communications in the Caspian region, as well as the conjugation of the Caspian and Black Seas through the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route. The panel session on this day was moderated by the Chairman of the Public Council of the Ministry for Investment and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Deputy chairman of the Presidium of the Union of Kazakhstan transport workers “KAZLOGISTICS” Yuriy Lavrinenko. CEO of KTZE-Khorgos Gateway, Shyngys Tuleushin, Deputy Director, Center of Transport Logistics of Ukrzaliznytsia JSC (Ukraine), Tymofiy Murakhovskyy, Head of Marketing Department of NC Maritime Ports Administration S.A. Constanta (Romania), Daniel Jarnea, Head of Representative Office of Estonian Railways (Estonia), Fedor Andreev, Marketing manager of Batumi International Container Terminal LLC (Georgia), Ketevan Oragvelidze and others acted as the speakers this day.

During two days of the conference, speakers and delegates of the event used this unique platform for business meetings and negotiations, in particular, between representatives of COSCO SHIPPING Lines (Romania), Aktau Sea Commercial Port NC JSC, NMSC Kazmortransflot LLP and TITR Association. During the event negotiations were also held between representatives of MSC Georgia LLC and Aktau Sea Commercial Port NC JSC. In addition, during the B2B meetings, delegates from Pro Danube Management GmbH, NMSK Kazmortransflot LLP and the TITR Association jointly discussed development issues of the Middle Corridor and expansion of the geography of cooperation in the Caspian region with the involvement of the Danube River through the largest Black Sea port of Constanta.

On May 13, 2019, the day before the conference, the participants of the event made a technical visit to the facilities of the port Aktau, during which they could observe the port infrastructure, and also meet the first Tashkent-Aktau-Tashkent transit container train arriving from Uzbekistan. Ten fitting platforms with 20 twenty-foot containers arrived in the port of Aktau will be loaded and sent to Tashkent.

All meetings held within the framework of Caspian Ports & Shipping 2019 will contribute further strengthen business relations, as well as the development of multimodal transportation in the Caspian region.

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION “TRANS-CASPIAN INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORT ROUTE”