Motor transport plays a significant role in Kazakhstan’s cargo transportation, including for export and transit. It accounts for about a third of all freight traffic and is only second to rail transport. The fastest growing freight traffic by automobile transport is through Kazakhstan’s border with China. A total of 639,600 vehicles crossed the border with China in 2022, with the number rising to 1.68 million in 2025—a more than 2.5-fold increase over the past three years. As Kazakhstan and China have set a goal of increasing bilateral trade to $100 billion per year, the workload on the border infrastructure is expected to further increase. The issue was on the agenda of a Kazakh government meeting on February 13, the Kazakh prime minister’s website reported.
A key measure for increasing cross-border vehicle traffic is synchronization of border crossing hours on both sides.
Previously, in accordance with bilateral agreements, Kazakhstan-China border crossings operated from 8:00 to 12:00 and from 13:00 to 17:00. To increase throughput, operating hours have been expanded, with all Kazakhstani automobile border crossings with China switching to a 12-hour work schedule—from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM. One of the largest border crossings, Nur Zholy, is operating 24 hours a day in a pilot mode.
At the same time, border crossings on the Chinese side close at 4:00 PM, which reduces the throughput efficiency. According to preliminary estimates, synchronization of operating hours on both sides would increase traffic by at least 20%.
Kazakhstan has also taken measures to transfer some procedures to outside of the border crossing points. Cargo clearance and other related procedures are now carried out at trade and logistics centers and temporary storage warehouses located within a radius of 1-10 km from the border. This allows the border crossing points to concentrate exclusively on border control functions and reduce the time trucks spend in the customs control zone. This scheme has already been introduced at the Nur Zholy, Alakol, Bakhty, and Kalzhat checkpoints on the Kazakh-Chinese border, as well as at the B. Konysbayeva, Kazygurt, and Atameken checkpoints on the border with Uzbekistan.
Kazakhstan will continue negotiations with China on the synchronization of the working hours at their border crossing points.
