Aktau, Kazakhstan, 30 September 2025 — The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Union (EU) have announced a joint financial package of up to €45 million to expand and modernise the port of Aktau, Kazakhstan’s main maritime gateway on the Caspian Sea. The investment is designed to strengthen the Transcaspian Corridor, a critical trade route linking Europe and Central Asia.
The package includes an EBRD loan of €35 million and a potential EU grant of €10 million under the Asia Pacific Investment Facility. Funds will be used to extend two berths and acquire weather-resilient ship-to-shore cranes, enabling the port to double its container-handling capacity. Container traffic at Aktau has already surged by 121% year-on-year in 2025, underscoring the urgency of the expansion.
Once completed, the upgrades will allow Aktau to operate two fully dedicated container berths with separate trans-shipment lines, cutting average handling time per container from four minutes to just 2½ minutes.
EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso said the project addresses a “key infrastructure bottleneck” along the corridor and aligns with the EU’s Global Gateway initiative, which seeks to enhance sustainable transport and logistics networks.
The port, owned by Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna and managed by Kazakhstan Railways, is pursuing an ambitious investment programme to establish the largest container terminal in the Caspian region by 2026, with an annual capacity of 240,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
The EBRD has invested more than €10 billion across 340 projects in Kazakhstan, with a strong focus on private sector development. The Aktau project is seen as a cornerstone of regional connectivity, boosting trade flows while supporting sustainable infrastructure development.
Sources: EBRD, Trend, Ports Europe.
