The Caspian Sea level continues to drop, threatening shipping.

According to the report of Kazinform on May 2nd, the continuous drop in the Caspian Sea level has begun to adversely affect the daily operations of Aktau International Seaport. Currently, in order to avoid the ship's hull from grounding, the loading capacity of cargo ships and oil tankers has had to be reduced, with the maximum reduction in cargo load for some ships reaching 10%.

Yerbolat Tilepiev, head of the Aktau port management department, said that a cargo ship that can normally carry up to 6,500 tons when empty can now only carry 5,500 tons. The same problem is faced by oil tankers. If this trend continues, ships may only be able to carry half their usual cargo in the future.

"Different types of ships have varying restrictions. For example, an oil tanker with a carrying capacity of 6,800 tons can now carry a maximum of 6,500 tons; while a ship that could originally carry 12,000 tons can now only carry 9,000 to 10,000 tons. When fully loaded, the bottom of the ship may touch the sea floor. If dredging operations are not started by the end of this year and the sea level continues to drop, maritime transport will become unsustainable," he added.

It is worth noting that Aktau Port currently undertakes the task of transporting various goods such as oil, grain, metal, and containers to Azerbaijan, Russia, Iran, and Turkmenistan. This year, the port's freight volume has increased by 20% compared to the same period last year. Among them, container transportation has shown particularly significant growth: last year's first quarter sent more than 7,000 containers, while this year's同期has exceeded 17,000, an increase of 134%.

Minister of Transport Marat Karabaev previously stated that enhancing the transportation capacity of Aktau Port is one of the current key tasks. To this end, relevant departments plan to launch dredging projects in the port area waters. Last year, Kurek Port carried out seabed dredging, and this year Aktau Port also plans to deepen the water depth by 1.5 meters, making the total water depth exceed 7.5 meters.

"We plan to start dredging work in May, with part of the funds provided by Kazakhstan National Railways [KTZ] and the rest supplemented by government funding. The project will be implemented in two phases, with some work completed by the end of this year, and the second phase continuing next year. After the project is completed, ships will be able to sail fully loaded. At the same time, the sand dredged will be used to fill shallow areas, forming artificial land 2 meters high, with an expected newly added land area of 171 hectares, where new docks will be built in the future," Karabaev said.

According to previous reports, the Belgian marine engineering giant Jan De Nul has completed the dredging project of the Saerzha Multi-functional Maritime Terminal at Kurek Port in Kazakhstan, significantly improving the port's freight capacity and ensuring safe navigation.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1831245776963584/

Disclaimer: This article solely represents the author's personal views.