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2015, Kazakhstan will be producing 3.5 million barrels
of oil per day (mbd). Tengiz alone plans to double output
by 2007. The international joint venture, TengizChevroil,
already faces bottlenecks in the pipeline, and the only
marine solution for oil exports is the Caspian Sea.
Since 1998, the National Maritime Shipping Company,
or “KazMorTransFlot” (KMTF), operates three
routes in the Caspian. Its tankers carry Kazakh oil
to refinery centers in Makhachkala (Russia), Baku (Azerbaijan)
and Neka (Iran). From there, several agreements allow
entry to outside markets.
Americans often confuse the Caspian Sea, a large saline
lake fed by the Volga River, with the quickly disappearing
Aral Sea. Pictures of the shrinking Aral Sea appear
regularly in magazines like National Geographic and
serve to highlight the importance of environmental balance
in post-Soviet societies. The mandate at KMTF is to
develop all facets of marine infrastructure in accordance
with the conventions of the International Maritime Organization
(IMO). KMTF is ISO 9001:2000 certified, which allows
its vessels to berth at foreign ports. This year, the
company is also applying for ISO 14001:2004 certification.
Although more than 80 percent of KMTF transportation
involves oil crude, the share of containerized and passenger
traffic is gaining in popularity. As a state-owned firm,
the mission of KMTF is to promote sovereignty by creating
a mercantile marine, including the establishment of
a naval institute. But KMTF’s implicit responsibility
is to re-orient the country’s entire flow of imports
and exports. This is no easy task considering that steel,
iron ore, alumina, asbestos and non-ferrous metals are
also a government economic priority.
| Capacity
now stands at 10 million tons, but KMTF is confident
they can raise the figure to 35 million tons |
Most of the loading of oil and cargo takes place at
Aktau’s port, on the eastern shore of the Caspian
Sea. In 2005, KMTF exported 4,714 tons of crude through
Aktau, a 16.1 percent increase over the previous year.
Oil transshipment services accounted for another 4,968
tons. Terminals 4, 5 and 9 at Aktau are rented by KMTF
and represent a share of 53 percent of the general volume
of Kazakh oil exports. By 2015, additional volume will
be handled at terminals in Kuryk Port. Capacity now
stands at 10 million tons, but KMTF officials are confident
they can raise the figure to 35 million tons.
Because the Caspian Sea requires its own specifications
for vessels, KMTF set up its own shipyard and ship-repair
facilities. The company currently owns eight vessels.
In 2004, it commissioned the Astana from a shipbuilding
company in Russia. The 12,000-ton tanker berthed into
Aktau last May. Tankers like the Astana will soon be
part of a new generation of watercraft cruising in the
Caspian Sea.
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