Kazakh-Chinese border: total blockade or business as usual?

The rail border crossings between Kazakhstan and China have made the news at various points throughout the year. For example, in spring, Kazakhstan stopped grain exports to China via rail due to capacity limitations. At present, it has stopped accepting container trains going to China at the Dostyk border crossing for weeks already. The situation remains puzzling, as involved parties are stepping forward with different accounts of the situation.

Something is happening at the Kazakh-Chinese border, that much is clear. Kazakh authorities have extended a ban on container trains destined for China coming to the border twice already. Now, the ban is supposed to be in effect until at least November.

Officially, the reasoning behind the ban is that the Kazakh border infrastructure cannot handle the large amount of containers, which have now flooded the border facilities at the Dostyk crossing. As of late September, 55 container trains were queueing at the border.

Reports accompanying those accounts have often pointed out that the other border crossings remain functional, and that traffic entering Kazakhstan from China is still flowing.

Transit through Kazakhstan practically impossible

However, now the Russian company Asia Import Group has come forward with a different account of the situation. It told Russian media that “delivery by rail from China to Russia through Kazakhstan is practically impossible.”

“Serious problems also arise when sending cargo through this station from China”, the company says. “The large flow of Chinese goods and the shortage of railway platforms in Dostyk have led to the fact that freight stands at the station waiting for transshipment for a month, and sometimes longer. If in Russia in the Far East they are trying to cope with this problem by using not only container platforms, but also gondola cars, then in Kazakhstan, as far as we know, there is no such possibility.”

Nothing extraordinary

Chinese logistics company Tiedada tells RailFreight.com that “a large number of containers could not be shipped out of Dostyk because of railway repairs or construction. […] Currently, 5,200 containers were sent from Dostyk to Altynkol for transshipment. Because Altynkol itself also had a backlog of containers, the overall situation was very chaotic.”

Nevertheless, the company also says that the accumulation of traffic at the Dostyk border crossing is a regular occurrence. “Kazakhstan has a large amount of grain, minerals, and timber entering China through Dostyk, along with regular imports from Russia, which leads to congestion at the Dostyk border crossing. This is considered a normal situation”, the company explains. “We believe that the situation will ease in the coming period, as this is a pattern observed every year.”

According to Tiedada, China – Europe traffic is not affected by issues at Dostyk. “Currently, the China-Europe Railway Express is affected by the rapid decline in sea freight rates, resulting in a decrease in the number of exports to Europe. Since the actual export volume of the China-Europe Railway Express has decreased, it will not be affected by the congestion at Dostyk in terms of transit time”, the company says.

European Silk Road Summit 2024

China – Europe rail freight traffic will be one of the key topics to be discussed at the European Silk Road Summit 2024, taking place in Vienna on 27-28 November.

Registrations for the yearly event are already open, while the programme, which this year highlights the fast-recovering China-Europe rail market, is shaping up.