Maersk turns attention to Central Asian markets
The Danish company Maersk, which is called the barometer of world trade, confirmed the growing importance of Central Asian markets in the global supply chain. The global shipping player has launched a new intermodal service connecting the port of Poti in Georgia with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan using the Middle Corridor. The service will operate weekly and may expand to other countries in the region, including Turkmenistan.
As the company notes, the “Middle Corridor” is intended not only to serve China- Europe supply volumes, its true potential lies in entering the Central Asian markets through appropriate logistics solutions.
Maersk is already active in the China corridor, which was introduced to the market in May 2022. This service will continue to operate regardless of the new intermodal communication between Poti, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the company’s press service reported.
Regarding the implementation of the new Maersk service, the Georgian port of Poti will serve as a center for consolidating cargo volumes coming from markets such as the US, Europe, the Mediterranean and the Far East. From Poti, rail transport will transport the cargo to the Azerbaijani port of Baku, and from there it will continue across the Caspian Sea to the Kazakh port of Aktau.
In Kazakhstan, the railway will again be deployed to destinations such as Almaty, Astana and Tashkent. At the same time, there is the possibility of further connections to neighboring countries - Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan.
In addition, Maersk noted that it reserves truck capacity in all countries involved in this supply chain in case rail capacity is overloaded or disrupted along the route, so that cargo can continue to move.
And the other day, on September 13, Maersk presented its first ship powered by biofuel. The vessel is dual fuel and can use traditional liquid fuel and methanol. Maersk says that when running on methanol, the ship emits 100 tons of carbon dioxide less per day than with conventional diesel. On September 14, the ship made its first trip to sea in the Copenhagen area.
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