NOV. 12 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Italian energy major ENI has started to hand out the first contracts to build a shipyard at Kuryk on Kazakhstan’s Caspian Sea coast. The shipyard is designed to increase ship building capacity and generate jobs. It was announced as a joint-venture with KazMunaiGaz last year, when the Kazakh economy looked stronger.
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(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)
May 14 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia will start building a deep water port on its Black Sea coast to cope with an expected surge in cargo being transported across the South Caucasus and on to Europe.
Georgian PM Irakli Garibshvili appeared to slip in news of the planned construction, almost casually, during comments he made at a Georgia-France business forum.
“We expect that Georgia’s demand for transport and logistics will increase,” the Trend news agency quoted Mr Garibashvili as saying.
“Therefore, we have decided to construct a deep-sea port in the Black Sea (Anaklia), to better serve the rapidly growing business in transportation and warehousing sectors.”
There has been something of an infrastructure boom across the South Caucasus.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline pumps oil from the Caspian Sea to Turkey, generating revenue for the transit countries and plans for more pipelines will also push up earnings.
What Mr Garibashvili was talking about though is physical cargo transported from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea. Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey have combined to modernise the co-called Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway. This is predominantly a trade route used to transit goods. Although it doesn’t finish in Anaklia it will still benefit the port town just north of Poti.
Increased trade across the South Caucasus is set to give Georgian industry a much needed boost.
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(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)
JAN. 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — In 2013 the port of Aktau, on Kazakhstan’s Caspian Sea coast, handled 8% less trade compared to 2012.
This is significant because Aktau is one of the biggest trading posts into and out of Kazakhstan. Unsurprisingly oil and oil-based products form 60% of Aktau Port’s trade volumes. Last year oil shipments through Aktau dropped by 20%, a significant drop and one that needs to be analysed.
The drop is probably down to a shift in the direction that oil has been travelling. Previously, Kazakhstan had sent most of its oil West across the Caspian Sea to Europe via Azerbaijan or north through Russia’s pipeline network. This has changed significantly over the past few years and Kazakh oil is now flowing east to China.
The drop in trade at Aktau is important as it is probably a byproduct of increased Chinese demand for Kazakh energy.
Of course, as Kazakhstan’s economy grows, so should all trade volumes at Aktau — especially, and importantly, non-oil trade volumes.
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(News report from Issue No. 167, published on Jan. 15 2014)
DEC. 1 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A Spanish company is considering investing in the Kazakh Caspian Sea port of Aktau, the head of the state-owned Kaznex Invest, Kairat Karmanov, told media. Mr Karmanov didn’t name the Spanish company considering the deal. Aktau is Kazakhstan’s largest port and is key to exports to Europe and beyond.
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(News report from Issue No. 163, published on Dec. 4 2013)
NOV. 12 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s state energy company SOCAR wants to build the largest port in Turkey, media quoted its head, Rovnag Abdullayev, as saying. The plan underlines Azerbaijan’s importance to Turkey as one of its main economic partners. The port will cost $400m to build and be operational by 2016, Mr Abdullayev said.
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(News report from Issue No. 160, published on Nov. 13 2013)
SEPT. 20 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, and Singapore’s minister for industry, Lee Yi Shyan, opened a new shipyard in Baku. The new yard will turn Azerbaijan into a major shipbuilder. Keppel O&M, a Singapore-based marine construction company, owns a 10% in the $480m project. The rest is owned by Azerbaijan.
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(News report from Issue No. 153, published on Sept. 25 2013)
APRIL 28 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh industry minister Asset Issekeshev said on a visit to Dubai that the Dubai-based port operator DP World has pledged to invest $1b into Aktau port and the Khorog-Eastern Gates free zone area, media reported. Aktau is Kazakhstan’s main Caspian Sea port. The Khorog-Eastern Gates free zone lies on the border with China.
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(News report from Issue No. 133, published on April 29 2013)
APRIL 4 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – RAKIA, the investment unit of Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE, has sold the majority of its stake in the Georgian Black Sea port of Poti, media quoted Georgian officials as saying. The officials said APM Terminals, a unit of Danish company Moller-Maersk Group, now owned 80% of the port which is an important transport hub.
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(News report from Issue No. 35, published on April 11 2011)