AD Ports Group moves to expand presence in Kazakhstan
Abu Dhabi’s AD Ports Group has announced the signing and exchange of a number of diverse agreements to broaden its operations in Kazakhstan. The exchange took place on the sidelines of the visit of H.H. Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi to the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Building on its strategic partnership with KazMunayGas (KMG), the national oil company of Kazakhstan, which began in December 2022, Captain Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, Managing Director and Group CEO of AD Ports Group, and Askhat Galimovich Khassenov, Chairman of the Board for KazMunayGas, exchanged a signed agreement relating to Caspian and open sea fleet expansion.
Under its terms, the Group and KMG are working on commissioning up to four shallow-draft container ships designed for use on the Caspian Sea, each with a capacity of 780 Twenty Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs), and contemplating investing with KMG in up to four Aframax crude oil tankers to increase support to Kazakhstan’s energy sector.
Additionally, preliminary Heads of Terms were exchanged by Capt. Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, Managing Director and Group CEO of AD Ports Group, and Nurzhan Marabayev, the General Director of SEMURG Invest LLP, to establish a joint venture to design, develop, finance, and operate the Sarzha Multipurpose Terminal (SMT) at Kuryk Seaport on the Caspian Sea. The SMT terminal will be designed to handle general cargo, containers, and dry bulk cargoes.
In addition to the terminal and vessel agreements, the Group also exchanged Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with three Kazakh organisations – Kazakh Invest, the nation’s trade development group, Chamber of International Commerce of Kazakhstan, and Special Economic Zone Morport Aktau, to explore joint trade development efforts.
The measures could lead to significant expansion of the Group’s investment and operations in Kazakhstan, a key central Asian trade nation that is a major hub in the Group’s strategy to redevelop the East-West Silk Road ‘Middle Corridor’ into a modern, low-impact direct land corridor running from China, through Central Asia and Pakistan, into Europe.
Capt. Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, Managing Director and Group CEO of AD Ports Group, said: “The steps we announce today are not only testimony of our increased interest in Kazakhstan, a major Central Asian trade hub, but also of the execution of our long-term strategy to develop the ‘Middle Corridor’ land passage from China to Europe as a principal East-West trade route of the 21st century. The Middle Corridor is the shortest, least environmentally impactful way to transport goods from China to Europe, and our investments reflect Kazakhstan’s growing role as an emerging export leader.”
Since 2022, AD Ports Group has invested significantly in Central Asia and elsewhere along the Middle Corridor, where its portfolio assets currently include an integrated dry port in Tbilisi, Georgia, and a series of general and container cargo terminal berths at the Port of Karachi in Pakistan, where it is also helping modernise the country’s digital customs and trade systems.