Kazakhstan Railways (KTZ) has stopped accepting new cargo as well as the transfer of empty wagons between Altynkol and Dostyk, two of the main border crossings with China. The ban has been in place since the beginning of December and will continue until the end of the month.
The main cause for this initiative was “the continuing critical situation of accumulation of loaded and empty cars at the border stations Dostyk and Altynkol, the presence of temporarily abandoned trains with empty cars in the direction of Dostyk and Altynkol”, as a representative of KTZ mentioned on Telegram.
The situation at the Kazakh-Chinese borders have been somewhat chaotic in other instances throughout 2024. For example, Kazakhstan stopped grain exports to China via rail and acceptance of container trains at the Dostyk border crossing was halted for weeks between September and October. These past initiatives have had a mixed impact on industry players active along this route, key for the Middle Corridor. The consequences of this new blockage remain to be assessed.