Russia, Kazakhstan and China are discussing a plan to put more freight on barges. Not only should that save money, but also provide some relief for the Kazakh and Russian rail networks. It is not the first time that the region is floating this idea: Kazakhstan earlier spotted a window for a whole new transport route up to the Arctic Sea.
The discussion concerns the Irtysh river, which flows from northeastern Kazakhstan northward into Russia. It is also part of a bigger intertwined system of waterways. From the perspective of Russia, this provides opportunities for diversified logistics. There is some historical merit to this idea: it would not be the first time the river functioned as a logistics artery. In Soviet times, it was actively used for that purpose.
A Russian call for diversifying away from rail and road surfaced in November 2024. At that time, the president of the Russian Federal Agency for Sea and Inland Water Transport suggested barges could help deliver freight to China, but also as far away as Türkiye.
Capacity
The river is supposed to be able to handle a modest 2,5 million tonnes of freight annually. Even if used at full capacity, the river would not help much in decongesting the rail network. In the case of Kazakhstan, trains carried 437,1 million tonnes of freight in 2024. Putting 2,5 million tonnes on barges does not seem like it will make a noticeable difference.
Nevertheless, the plan indicates that the countries are looking at all options to ease congestion on the rails. And that is for a good reason: both Russia and Kazakhstan are dealing with significant capacity-related problems on their rail networks. Russia is already planning a new multimodal hub near Omsk, where freight will be divided between river, rail and road.
Kazakh plans
Last year, Kazakhstan already announced preliminary plans for a multimodal rail – river route along the Irtysh. The country hopes to put rail freight on barges on Lake Zaysan, from where it would then travel northward into Russia. Vice versa, barge freight could be put on trains to continue into China.
Kazakhstan pointed out that such a project could open up a route all the way up to the Arctic Sea via the Irtysh and Ob rivers. The Times of Central Asia wrote at the time that the route is expected to handle freight volumes of 3,6 million tonnes per year as opposed to the 2,5 million tonnes mentioned now.