During his visit to Afghanistan, Kazakh Foreign Minister Murat Nurtleu signed a memorandum of cooperation on the construction of a railway line between Central and South Asia. The document envisages the implementation of the Turgundi-Herat-Kandahar-Spin Boldak project, which includes two stages of construction and the creation of a transport and logistics center in Afghanistan.
The European Union has extended the agreement on international freight transport with Ukraine until the end of 2025. Thanks to this, Ukrainian carriers will be able to continue delivering humanitarian aid, fuel, and export products to Europe without special permits — which is critical for the country’s economy in times of war. At the same time, the European Parliament approved a number of new requirements to strengthen control over transportation.
The construction of one of the largest logistics projects in northern Kazakhstan, the Tobol transport and logistics complex, has officially begun in Kostanay. The project is being implemented with the participation of Kedentransservice JSC and TLK Tobol LLP with the support of the Industrial Development Fund. The total area of the future hub will be 133.6 hectares, with investments of 64 billion tenge. The complex is designed to handle up to 400 thousand containers per year and will create 500 new jobs for specialists in logistics, IT, and maintenance.
Kundziņsala is becoming the largest industrial zone in the port of Riga and Latvia. In the coming years, at least seven new enterprises will open here – terminals, logistics centres, alternative fuel and smart industry component factories. This will create about 800 jobs and attract more than 500 million euros in investments. The key project will be the Amber Flow Fuels plant for the production of renewable fuels (HVO and SAF), which will meet the needs of the entire Baltic market for SAF and export 70% of the production, strengthening Latvia’s position in the global market.
From 1 July 2025, several European countries will introduce updated toll road systems for trucks, including expanded toll routes, new tariffs, tougher fines and the introduction of CO₂ emission classes. In Belgium, Viapass is revising the rates for all trucks over 3.5 tonnes in the Flanders and Brussels regions, taking into account the vehicle weight and engine emission class. Electric vehicles will remain at zero rate with an active on-board unit.
CEVA Logistics and global retailer Avolta have launched a pilot project for sustainable road transport between Barcelona and Madrid using three Duo Trailer road trains powered by environmentally friendly HVO fuel. According to calculations, this will reduce up to 520 tonnes of CO₂ emissions and 180 kg of nitrogen oxides annually – the equivalent of taking 440 trucks off the road.
JSC NC Kazakhstan Temir Zholy and the State Corporation China Railways signed a new Agreement on Strategic Cooperation, replacing the 2014 agreement. The document provides for the development of joint transport routes, strengthening container transportation, modernizing infrastructure and introducing digital technologies to improve the efficiency and safety of transportation.
The Portuguese government has decided to put 49.9% of the shares of the national airline TAP up for sale, including 5% intended for employees. According to Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, the largest European airline groups have already expressed interest in the deal – Lufthansa, Air France-KLM and the owner of British Airways, the IAG holding. All applications will be assessed based on financial, technical and strategic criteria.
Japanese shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) has entered into an agreement with Kinetics, a subsidiary of Turkey’s Karpowership, to jointly develop a platform for floating data centers. The partners plan to convert vessels into data centers with autonomous power supply from Karpowership’s marine power plants, as well as from land-based networks, solar stations, and offshore wind farms.
The European Commission has adopted a decision setting out key deadlines and milestones for the completion of the large-scale cross-border railway project Rail Baltica, which aims to significantly improve transport connectivity in the EU. The decision was unanimously supported by all Member States and marks an important step towards the full integration of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania into the European rail network by 2030.
