KTZ Express, a logistics provider and subsidiary of Kazakhstan Railways considers launching a reefer container train service to Uzbekistan. The new option will allow the company to increase the freight volumes and extend the product range to the neighbouring country.

KTZ Express has offered Uzbekistan Railways to operate the reefer container train service between the countries as well as from Uzbekistan to Russia. “Reefer containers offer a great advantage for carrying vegetables and fruits, frozen and refrigerated products, medical and pharmaceutical goods as well as electronics. They allow keeping the necessary temperature. As a result, it helps to increase the volumes of transported freight”, KTZ Express stated.

According to the logistics provider, the reefer containers could be included in the existing container trains running to and from Uzbekistan. The company intends to ship the reefer containers once a week in the initial stage. In the future, the frequency could be boosted.

Trains from Uzbekistan to China

Currently, KTZ Express operates two container trains from Uzbekistan to China. Both of them run via Kazakhstan. The everyday service connects Chuqursoy freight station, located in the outskirts of Tashkent (the country’s capital), with the Chinese port of Lianyungang. The latter is partially owned by Kazakhstan Railways: it holds 49 per cent of the port shares. The other freight train runs from Tashkent to Xi’an and Chengdu at a frequency of once a week.

KTZ Express also provides numerous connections from China to Europe via Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus. Therefore, Uzbekistan could use them for transporting its own cargoes. Moreover, the Kazakh company offered the Uzbek party to handle its freight via the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, also known as the Middle Corridor. This multimodal (rail and ferry) link provides freight transportation via Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and further to the European countries.