Published on: 2026-06-18
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Sian, June 18 /Xin Hua/ — Several cranes at the logistics terminal in the city of Almaty /Kazakhstan/ are organizedly reloading containers with Chinese electromechanical products and everyday goods. This is a standard form of operation for the international Kazakh-Chinese logistics terminal ZHETYSU in the city of Almaty, which recently, on June 10, marked its first anniversary. Despite the short period of operation, this terminal, thanks to its unique advantages, is gradually becoming a key hub of cross-border logistics covering the entire territory of Kazakhstan and neighboring countries.
At the same time, at a distance of more than 3 thousand km, in China, at the Kazakh logistics terminal in the city of Xi’an, Shaanxi Province / Northwest China, several forklifts efficiently unload agricultural products imported from Kazakhstan, including flax seeds and buckwheat.
Joint terminals in Xian and Almaty form the “South-North” structure along the “West-East” axis and become a lever for deepened Chinese-Kazakh cooperation.
Both terminals are under joint ownership and joint management of China and Kazakhstan. Such logistical architecture was formed in two consecutive stages.
In 2023, China and Kazakhstan established a joint venture in Xi’an – a Chinese-Kazakhstani trade and logistics company /Xi’an/, which undertook the construction and operation of a logistics terminal for Kazakhstan in Xi’an. 51% of the shares belong to the Chinese side, 49% to the Kazakhstani side. The project occupies about 100 mu /6.7 hectares/, including warehouse premises and a container yard. The terminal was put into operation on February 28, 2024.
In 2025, China and Kazakhstan established a joint enterprise on the territory of Kazakhstan – Kazakh-Chinese Trade and Logistics Company (Almaty) Co., Ltd for the joint construction of the international logistics terminal ZHETYSU, contributing to the further transformation of Chinese-Kazakh cooperation under the “Silk Road” scheme. The Chinese side owns 50.1% of the shares, and the Kazakh side owns 49.9%. Thanks to its advantageous location on an area of 9.8 hectares, the terminal quickly transformed into a railway-road transport hub.
The General Director of Kazakh-Chinese Trade and Logistics Company (Almaty) Co., Ltd., Din-Mukhamed Konakbayev, noted that the international logistics terminal ZHETYSU has a number of significant operational advantages nearby.
According to him, the terminal is located in the central part of Almaty, which ensures high efficiency in the handling and distribution of cargo. The presence of customs infrastructure on the terminal’s territory allows for the prompt implementation of customs declaration and inspection of cargo, significantly reducing the waiting times for customs procedures.
In addition, the terminal is equipped with a fleet of 50 trucks designed for container transportation, and a full set of loading and unloading equipment, which allows providing comprehensive services, including customs clearance, loading and unloading, storage, and cargo distribution, demonstrating a high level of integrated service.
The deputy general director of the Chinese-Kazakhstani trade and logistics company (Xi’an), Ziyan Haochen, noted that, unlike the traditional “point-to-point” scheme, the “hub-spoke” scheme relies on nodal centers of cargo concentration, optimizing transport capacities and reducing costs through intensive operation.
As of May 2026, the total number of freight train shipments operating on China-Europe routes exceeded 130 thousand, with the volume of transported goods surpassing 520 billion USD. The transportation time along the Xi’an-Almaty route was reduced from 15 to 5-6 days, and overall logistics costs decreased by approximately 20%, which ensured strong support for the operation of “double terminals.”
As it became known, since the beginning of the operation of the joint terminals in Xi’an and Almaty, the efficiency of logistics has increased significantly. The monthly container capacity of the Kazakh logistics terminal in the city of Xi’an increased by 103.1% – from 3200 to 6500 standard containers /TEU/.
The operator of the reach stacker at the international logistics terminal ZHETYSU, Madiyar Sovet, shared: “Earlier, at another terminal, I could only perform unloading once a day, but now, thanks to the efficient operation of this terminal and the simplified customs clearance process, I manage to do this two to three times a day. Moreover, my income has grown.”
The advantages of joint terminals in Xi’an and Almaty are attracting more and more clients. The general director of one of the logistics companies in Xi’an, Peng Mei, said: “Since October last year, we began cooperating with the logistics terminal of Kazakhstan in the city of Xi’an. Here there are good warehouses, enough space for container storage, and the distance to the customs post is less than 5 km, which allows for significantly reducing turnover costs.”
In the near future, an intelligent racking system will be implemented at the Kazakh terminal in the city of Xi’an, which will allow increasing warehouse capacity by more than 2 times.
Czjan Haochen noted that the expected volume of shipments at the Kazakh logistics terminal in the city of Xi’an will reach 133 thousand TEU per year by 2030. This will fully utilize the advantages of the growth of shipments along the China-Europe routes, and the added value of joint terminals in Xi’an and Almaty for Chinese-Kazakh trade will become even more evident.Moreover, with the increase in shipment volumes of joint terminals in Sian and Almaty, the specific logistics costs will be further reduced, attracting more and more related enterprises, and creating a solid foundation for high-quality development of bilateral trade, declared Cian Haochen.
As noted by Cizyan Haochen, the successful model of joint terminals in Xi’an and Almaty is spreading widely. China and Kazakhstan are currently cooperating with Russia, Hungary, Azerbaijan, and other countries on the construction of logistics terminals. These efforts are aimed at developing transport corridors leading to Western and Southern Asia, and providing the opportunity to share the benefits of trade development with many countries.
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