Özbekistan Winks at Kazakistan to Become Central Asia's Logistics Hub

Recent geopolitical tensions have pushed countries to seek alternative transportation routes, and the Central Asian region has gained importance in global logistics with its relatively stable position. In this context, it is observed that Özbekistan is taking serious steps to strengthen its position in regional logistics and to take over Kazakistan's role as the main transit center in Central Asia. Both countries are making massive investments to expand their transportation infrastructure, and a competitive environment is beginning to emerge. The two major landlocked countries in the region have entered into a race to determine the main carrier routes for future trade between Asia and Europe. This situation has the potential to directly affect not only the regional economy but also the overall flow of international trade. However, how successful these projects will be in practice and how commercially viable they are remain major question marks.

Özbekistan has focused on modernizing its logistics infrastructure to better utilize its strategic position and has put forward new proposals in this direction. Officials emphasizing that they connect the East and the West state that the country hosts an approximately 4,000-kilometer international transit corridor and a 4,700-kilometer railway network. While the construction of modern logistics centers and 'dry ports' is planned in Taşkent, Nevai, and Namangan, it is aimed for Nevai Airport to maintain its function as an important cargo hub on Eurasian air routes. Furthermore, the construction of the Çin-Kırgızistan-Özbekistan railway and the completion of the proposed Afganistan-Transit Railway project are expected to significantly increase the country's weight in international transportation. Officials claim that with the completion of these routes, cargo transit times could drop to eight days, providing transportation approximately three times faster than traditional routes.

The parties have also put on the table the potential of gaining access to Pakistan's Karaçi and Gvadar ports to provide shorter and more effective transportation to South Asian markets. If this connection is established, Özbekistan will gain a gateway to the Hint Okyanusu and have the opportunity to directly access a market with a population of about two billion. However, the fact that the existing railway network in Pakistan does not extend to the Gvadar port, which necessitates a comprehensive infrastructure investment to overcome this situation, is shown as one of the biggest obstacles in front of the project. Likewise, the lack of any calculation method presented in these claims that cargo times will drop to eight days is met with skepticism by logistics experts. Because the existing Çin-Avrupa railway services today generally take much longer. The Özbek administration anticipates that with these steps, they can attract 15 to 20 million tons of international transit cargo annually and thus obtain a revenue of 400 to 600 million dollars.

Despite this, the country's existing logistics infrastructure has serious deficiencies that need to be overcome to handle the targeted volumes. Currently, many border gates do not have sufficient capacity to process international freight traffic effectively, leading to severe bottlenecks. Although the existing 27 logistics centers have a total capacity of 27.2 million tons, only one of them can be classified as a high-level facility. While automatic Class A warehouse capacity can only meet 10-15% of the current demand, modern cold storage and customs warehouses are also experiencing a serious shortage. The fact that the logistics infrastructure is mostly focused only on the capital Taşkent and its surroundings, the containerization rates remaining low, and the sector being backward in terms of digitalization constitute other major problems.

On the other hand, Kazakistan has managed to become one of the main transit centers connecting Asia and Europe over the years. Especially the freight traffic passing through the Hazar-Geçiş Uluslararası Ulaştırma Rotası (TITR) or alternatively known as the Orta Koridor, has increased about sixfold since 2020, reaching 36.9 million metric tons in 2025. Kazakistan, through which four major international transportation corridors pass, may seem one step ahead of Özbekistan with these figures, but some analysts question whether this increase can be turned into a permanent competitive advantage. To maintain its position and increase its market share, the country needs to constantly modernize its existing infrastructure and strengthen its diplomatic relations. In light of all these developments, the investments of both countries and their efforts to offer routes that will connect continents are increasingly adding to the strategic weight of Central Asia in global trade. Experts believe that which state will be able to create faster, cheaper, and more reliable logistics lines in this process will determine the geopolitical balances of the future.