Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan to launch joint Caspian fleet for Middle Corridor cargo

Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan are establishing a joint Caspian Sea fleet, through a venture between Uzbekistan's state rail-cargo operator Temiryo'lkargo and the Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Company (ASCO), Uzbekistan's Deputy Minister of Investments, Industry and Trade Khurram Teshabayev announced. The goal, he said, is to improve the efficiency and resilience of multimodal freight while cutting logistics costs along the Middle Corridor.

The move targets the corridor's best-documented constraint. Demand for the Trans-Caspian route has surged as shippers seek alternatives to disrupted northern and southern lanes — but the Caspian's cargo fleet has not kept pace, leaving freight waiting for vessel slots at Aktau, Kuryk and Turkmenbashi. For landlocked Uzbekistan, whose exports increasingly transit the Baku International Sea Trade Port, co-owning capacity is a hedge against both cost and availability risk.

For Azerbaijan, the venture deepens its role as the corridor's maritime hub: ASCO gains committed eastbound-westbound volume, while Baku's port — where container handling rose 15 percent in the first half of 2026 — anchors yet another institutional link binding Central Asian trade to the Caucasus route.

The announcement joins a rapid series of corridor investments, from a planned Azerbaijani–Kazakh–Chinese cargo terminal in Baku to rolling-stock purchases across the region — signs the Middle Corridor is moving from communiqués to capacity.

Source: The Astana Times, citing remarks to Report news agency.