Dubai Company to Provide Management Consultancy to Kazakh Rail Hub

Dubai based DP World is to provide management consultancy services to Kazakhstan as they develop their Khorgos Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and Inland Container Depot (ICD). It will provide the same services on the port of Aktau on the Caspian Sea, Kazakhstan’s major seaport.

DP World signed the contract with Kazakhstan’s Temir Zholy national railway company at the second International Transport and Logistics Forum in Astana on Thursday 7th November.

The development projects are to help the country’s position as a connection on the ‘new Silk Road’ between Europe and China.

The SEZ is on the border with China and is hoped to be a major industrial centre for the country. Meanwhile the ICD will be a logistics hub for the country. Aktau is hoped to be a sea link to the two inland centres.

Railway building is a major new focus for countries in the region due to the issues of piracy around the Horn of Africa making sea transport through the Suez Canal less reliable and more costly. Cargo taken by rail can shave weeks off the time between manufacturer and customer. It is likely to significantly boost countries’ economies along the routes in question.