07 July 2015 | 20:26

First transport and logistics center launched in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan's first premium class logistics center has opened in Astana, a Tengrinews correspondent reports.

This is project is part of Kazakhstan’s efforts to become a Eurasian transport, logistics and business hub, an idea put forward by President Nursultan Nazarbayev in the context of revival of the Silk Road.

The Astana Transport and Logistics Center (TLC) of Class A meets the strict requirements in the architecture of the warehouse, width of its spans, height of storage racks, temperature, location of the warehouses convenient for multimodal transport, and safety requirements.

TLC in Astana has a container terminal that can connect and store reefer containers. Climate warehouse has 22 cameras with different temperature regimes: from minus 24 degrees Centigrade to 5-10 degrees Centigrade.

There are also five special gas chambers for long-term storage of fruit. In addition, there are separate storages for vegetables in Euro-containers. A temperature between 16 and 18 degrees Centigrade is maintained in dry storage. Air recuperation in the storages complies with the international standards.

All the infrastructure is automated. The system displays real time information about the occupied and available space in warehouses, goods stored, their shelf life, when and to whom they are to be transported, priorities in moving the goods. The system also provides operator alerts for product repackaging and displays information on time and place of shipments.

The warehouses have modern loading and unloading equipment produced by German Still, which is among the top three world leaders in producing warehouse equipment. 89 various high-tech mechanisms are installed at the Astana TLC.

There is a container crane capable of lifting and moving 45 ton containers that can deal with all standard cargos at the container terminal. Besides, two container cranes of Italian Ferrari have been delivered to the facility.

TLC in Astana works along the principle of multimodal transportation: organized reception and shipment of goods from trains to trucks and back. Five kilometers of railway sidings lead directly to the warehouse.

There are plans to launch a similar TLC in Shymkent in Kazakhstan's south. In the framework of the infrastructure-focused state-run program Nurly Zhol, TLCs will also be built by 2020 in Aktobe, Uralsk, Atyrau, Aktau, Kostanay, Pavlodar, Semey - the cities located along the main transport corridors of Kazakhstan - to created a chain of hubs in key locations. Astana will be the anchor hub of the central region.

By Dinara Urazova, editing by Tatyana Kuzmina

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