Русский
As part of the recently concluded 16th International Economic Forum “Russia – Islamic World: KazanForum 2025,” a panel discussion was held on the “International North-South Transport Corridor” (INSTC). Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Savelyev, the Special Representative of the President for the Development of the INSTC, took part in the discussions. The session also involved Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, Minister of Transport Roman Starovoit, Head of Russian Railways Oleg Belozerov, the Governor of the Astrakhan Region Igor Babushkin, representatives of the project’s partner countries, and the international business community. We discuss their comments as concerns the Astrakhan regional development in particular.
By presidential decree, the task was set to increase the volume of traffic along the INSTC by at least one and a half times by 2030 compared with the indicators of 2021, to be achieved by increasing the global competitiveness of routes. 2024 cargo turnover along the INSTC routes amounted to more than 24 million tonnes.
Over the past three years, the Russian side has made significant progress in developing the infrastructure of the INSTC and organising transportation along its routes—key arteries in connecting Russia to Central Asia, the Middle East, East Africa, and South Asia.
In particular, the practical implementation of the 162 km long Rasht-Astara railway construction project in Iran has started. The construction of the Rasht-Astara line will ensure uninterrupted transit from Ust-Luga to Bandar Abbas and reduce travel time from 35-40 days to 15-20.
Astrakhan Development
Igor Babushkin, the Astrakhan Governor, said that the Astrakhan region occupies a key place in the trans-Caspian direction of the INSTC. He noted the steady growth in cargo transportation volumes in recent years and spoke about the expansion of the Astrakhan seaport, as well as the construction of new cargo terminals. Special attention is being paid to Olya port, which in 2024 set a record for cargo transshipment and became Russia’s only port-based special economic zone. (Others will follow).
According to Babushkin, it is necessary to upgrade the fleet for further sea transportation growth. Several ships for Russian and Iranian companies are currently being built at Astrakhan shipyards, with the region becoming a centre for creating a dredging fleet. The construction of 15 dredgers is already underway.
The increase in cargo flow along the corridor is facilitated by measures aimed at eliminating infrastructure constraints, in particular, dredging in the Volga-Caspian Sea shipping channel. Since the beginning of 2022, more than 15 million cubic meters of silt have been extracted from the bottom of the canal.
Currently, optimal depth indicators are maintained in the shipping channel. The passage draft of vessels is 4.5 meters, making passage of large-tonnage vessels possible. However, in order to further increase the capacity of the route, large-scale dredging continues to be carried out. In 2025, it is planned to extract 7 million cubic meters of soil. The icebreaking fleet of the Caspian Basin was strengthened to increase the reliability of navigation in winter. The icebreaker Kapitan Zarubin joined the three existing icebreakers providing ship escort in the ports of Astrakhan and Olya. The Caspian seaports work in cooperation with Russian railways in this regard.
Violetta Musakayeva, deputy head of the production site for commercial work of the Volga Directorate for the Management of the Central Control Unit of Russian Railways, spoke about the operation of dry ports as rear terminals. These are cargo terminals located inland and equipped with the necessary engineering, transport, and administrative infrastructure to service the capacities of seaports. They can be used for non-core operations such as unloading goods from containers, storage, accumulation and distribution of goods, and transshipment of products to other types of transport.
These will also be developed and expanded, such as the Kutum dry port, which is currently capable of processing 2,600 wagons per month and storing 150,000 tonnes of cargo at a time. The port is designed for all types of cargo: bulk, heavy, containerized, and bulk (non-hazardous).
The dry port of Trusovo can simultaneously store 50,000 tonnes of cargo and handle 210 wagons per month. The port is designed for handling bulk, tar pieces, and heavy cargo. Dry ports like these help alleviate congestion at seaports and improve the efficiency of supply chains.
Volga Railway representatives spoke about a multimodal project for loading vegetable oil at the Astrakhan-2 station. After being transferred from railway tanks to specialized marine tanker tanks, the export cargo is sent further along the INSTC. To speed up the movement of the train by rail, round-the-clock dispatching of cargo is carried out. During 2025, 180,000 tonnes of vegetable oil are to be shipped in this way.
The Caspian Cluster
The Caspian Cluster, is actively developing in the Astrakhan region. It unites the Lotus SEZ with the Olya port SEZ, which allows access to the markets of the Caspian Littoral states: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Iran, and Turkmenistan, as well as Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and India.
According to Andrey Nalimov, Deputy General Director of the Lotus SEZ, 17 residents are already working on its territory, while the attracted investment currently amounts to ₽28 billion (US$356 million). The SEZ has a wide specialisation in shipbuilding, including the production of components, oil and gas and drilling equipment, and high-tech production (polymers, medicine). 1,500 new jobs have been created.
The anchor resident is the Lotos Shipbuilding Plant, the largest enterprise not only in the Astrakhan region but also in the south of Russia. Four dry cargo container ships of Project 00108 mixed (river-sea) navigation are being built at the site specifically for Caspian Sea operations. All four vessels are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2025.
Unlike the bulk carriers currently under construction in the country, Project 00108 is primarily intended for the transportation of containers, including refrigerated ones. The versatility of the vessel lies in the fact that, in addition to international standard containers, it can carry any type of dry cargo in two holds, including grain, timber, lumber, and general cargo.
The Caspian cluster includes Olya Port SEZ, whose resident businesses specialize in the construction and subsequent operation of terminals (container and agricultural products). Three residents work in the SEZ, with the current volume of investment amounting to ₽2.5 billion (US$32 million).
The Olya port area has great potential due to its licensed ability to provide a wide range of services. These include warehousing and storage of goods at sea and river ports, as well as at the airport; supply and equipment of ships and their maintenance; processing of aquatic biological resources; operations to prepare goods for sale and transportation (packaging, sorting, repackaging, batch division, and labeling); stock trading; and wholesale of goods.
In addition to the usual tax and customs preferences, SEZs in the Astrakhan region have additional advantages, especially when it comes to Asian exports.
The Caspian Basin Logistics Catchment Area
The development of foreign economic activity with Asian countries is a strategically important task for Russia in the coming decades. The INSTC and other logistics routes through the Caspian Basin provide access to the sales markets of the following catchment areas:
- Commonwealth of Independent States and Eurasian Economic Union
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan - The Middle East Routes
Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Pakistan - East Africa
Still being developed, but routes ultimately go through Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Madagascar, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. - South Asia
India and onwards to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the ASEAN nations, and China, where it meets with the Far Eastern routes travelling to Asia from Vladivostok and effectively circumnavigates the middle and south Asian oceanic basin. - Export Potential
Within a radius of 1000 km from Astrakhan, there are countries with a total population of more than 300 million people. Localisation of production in the industrial or port SEZ of the Caspian cluster makes it possible to minimize logistics and tax costs when exporting products to Asian countries.
These have a demand for a wide range of export goods: cereals, flour, vegetable oils, agricultural products, animal feed, petroleum products, coal, gas, sulfur, mineral oils, chemical products, distillates, fertilizers, components for the railway and shipbuilding industries, metals, timber, wood products, pulp and paper products.
Much of this demand can be provided by the raw materials and production base of the Astrakhan region: oil, free gas, condensate, table salt, gypsum, anhydride, sulphur, glass, expanded clay, brick-tile, siliceous raw materials, sand and gravel materials, building sands; products of the fishing industry, agricultural products (vegetables, melons, cereals); shipbuilding and ship repair; petrochemistry, oil refining, and gas production. The regional potential can significantly strengthen the INSTC freight base with minimal transport and logistics costs.
Agricultural products occupy a special place in the export of regional goods, with the Russian Export Centre (REC) specifically highlighting the export potential of Russia’s agricultural products. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fishing Industry of Astrakhan, 2024 regional exports of agricultural products reached US$19.3 million in value, with Astrakhan’s leading trade partners in meats being Iran, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan.
3,300 tonnes of food industry products (rice, cereals, and canned goods) were sent to Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan, while 4,700 tonnes of fish and fish products, including canned fish, were exported to Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan. Other agricultural product exports included vegetables (4,900 tonnes) potatoes (11,600 tonnes), melons (1,400 tonnes) with a total of 25,200 tonnes sent to Kazakhstan, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Lithuania, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Serbia.
The supply of agricultural products to Iran is of particular importance for the region and for the development of the INSTC, as Astrakhan is the main grain transshipment port in the Caspian basin, with over 50% of the regional exports passing through it.
The vast majority of shipments from Astrakhan go to the ports of Iran. Of the 1.6 million tonnes in 2024, more than 1.1 million tonnes of grain were transported to Iran’s Amirabad Port, while 200,000 tonnes each were shipped to the Anzali and Noushehr Ports. The main export commodity in transportation to Iran is corn.
Sergey Rizov, First Deputy Head of Astrakhan Customs, said that Iran accounted for 43% of the total regional shipments in 2024, while the number of shipments leaving Iran for Astrakhan exceeded 75% of Iran’s total.
As can be seen, the Caspian Sea logistics field as part of the INSTC is rapidly developing, with the Astrakhan region as a key Caspian trade hub.
Further Reading
