Kazakhs to tap Apple to Ford's China moves for Europe cargo
ASTANA. October 30. KAZINFORM Kazakhstan's state rail monopoly plans to invest $3 billion in assets from ships to airports to boost its share of freight from Asia to Europe as companies such as Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Ford Motor Co. (F) produce goods in China.
AO Kazakhstan Temir Zholy National Co. is transforming itself as it seeks to capture 8 percent of China-Europe cargo shipments in seven years, up from about 1 percent now, Askar Mamin, chief executive officer of the rail operator, said in an interview on Oct. 25.
Kazakhstan, the world's largest landlocked country, is seeking to use its location between China and Russia as an asset in diversifying its $200 billion economy away from oil and gas. The government wants to tap into potential manufacturing growth in Chinese regions, including those bordering Kazakhstan, that may receive more than $1 trillion of investment from the government and producers in the five years through 2015, according to Temir Zholy, Kazinform refers to Bloomberg.
"We're already engaged in a tough struggle to ship goods internationally," Mamin said. The competition "is pushing Temir Zholy to boost its efficiency."
The Kazakh government plans $58 billion of infrastructure investments through 2020, about half for railways, to help increase transportation's contribution to gross domestic product to almost 12 percent from 7 percent last year, Temir Zholy said.
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