MOSCOW, July 2. /TASS/. The cross-border Irtysh River should become an international logistics route for access to Kazakhstan and China, the Omsk Region's Acting Governor Dmitry Ushakov told a news conference at TASS.
"The Irtysh River should return to the economic agenda as a most important logistics route not just in the region, but as an international route. The river could connect Russia's northern regions, primarily those near the Ob-Irtysh basin, and inland waterways such as the Omsk, Tyumen, Khanty-Mansi, Yamalo-Nenets and further on - Kazakhstan and China," he said.
Presently, most goods are transported by road and rail, which is why the roads are significantly overloaded. "There is a problem with overloading both along highways and along the Trans-Siberian Railway. Hence the increase in delivery time, growing costs and burden on infrastructures," he added.
The river has a clear logistics potential both in the northern and in the southern direction. "It is an ambitions task to revive the Irtysh River as a major transport artery and a symbol of our good neighborliness and economic unity with neighboring countries. Besides, it is strategically important to use the Irtysh River in the northern and in the southern direction to access the Arctic and the Northern Sea Route that integrates the Eurasian transport corridors into the global transport system," he said.
In November, 2024, Andrey Tarasenko, head of the river and sea fleet authority, Rosmorrechflot, said the agency was considering options to deliver goods to China and Turkey via the Irtysh River, which was actively used for cargo transportation in Soviet times. In December, 2024, Kazakhstan's Minister of Transport Karabayev said the Irtysh River's annual freight potential was estimated at 2.5 million tons.