Kazakhstan, China and Russia want to digitalize container shipping

Kazakhstan, China and Russia are going to create a single digital platform (SDP) for container shipping on the route stretching across Kazakhstan from the Selyatino railway station near Moscow to Chinese Xian, according to Kazakhstan Railways (KTZ).

The SDP agreement is expected to be signed during a Kazakh-Chinese Business Council meeting in early July. Once the system is implemented it will offer processes designed for customs clearance and e-commerce, for example, not for just these three states but for some other countries.

«This system will simplify logistics, promote the development of e-commerce, improve customs procedures, decrease trading barriers and raise the transparency and efficacy of supply chains,» KTZ said in a statement.

The draft agreement was prepared by a joint venture called CRK Terminal, established in April 2024 by KTZ Express (a subsidiary of KTZ), Russian Slavtrans-Service (Eurasia trading and logistical complex) and Xi’an Free Trade Port in China. To boost the project, CRK Terminal will negotiate with big marketplaces such as Alibaba, Pinduoduo, JD and 1688.com, as well as with authorized agencies in China, Kazakhstan and Russia.

KTZ Express, Xi’an Free Trade Port Construction and Operation and Belarussian Unionway will also develop logistical services. The three sides want to build a logistical fulfillment center at the Svisloch station in Belarus to processing and distribution centers that go from China to Europe and vice versa.

In 2023, the amount of railway cargo going through Kazakhstan in transit from China to Russia and back reached 3.8 million tons (growing by a third year-on-year). In the first quarter of 2024, this dynamic didn’t change much, remaining at the same level of 900,000 tons.