Kazakhstan has recently imposed additional customs fees for transit cargo. From 14 August onwards, companies operating through the country need to pay an additional amount of 46 US dollars per freight order.

The new regulation became public on 2 August via a governmental statement without specific reasons. According to UTLC ERA, the new regulation will result in an additional transit cost of 20,700 tenge, which is equivalent to 46 US dollars. The fee applies to each transit declaration over each freight order and “will have an impact on the business since the customers will be the ones to bear the extra cost”, says Jacky Chen, CEO of NSR Intermodal.

Bria Liu, the founder of TopRail, says the additional customs fee could be good news for her business, on the other hand. “Though the amount isn’t that much, this is still beneficial for us since we are mostly operating through the Manzhouli terminal, which will bypass Kazakhstan,” Liu added.

As the main transit country between China and Europe, Kazakhstan has increased its customs tariffs a couple of times since last year. Nevertheless, the latest additional 46 US dollars cost per freight order is less significant compared to last year, when KTZ, the country’s national freight carrier, raised the costs for cargo transport and empty wagons in domestic, import, export and transit traffic by 14,67 per cent.

Also read:

• Russian Railways asks Kazakhstan for lower transit tariffs
• Silk Road prices through Kazakhstan increase after relative stability
• Turkey imposes 40% tariff on electric cars imported from China