TLK Media is one of the key industry media hubs within Kazakhstan’s transport and logistics complex. In your view, which factors are currently coming to the fore for the successful positioning of players in the transport and logistics services market? To be more specific: how significant do you consider such transparent pricing instruments as price indices to be?
This is a highly pertinent question, given that the market has now matured, and trust in it is no longer built on price alone. The market has become global. Our region serves as an integrator of diverse Eurasian routes, where a multitude of factors shape trust and transparency.
Today, competencies or isolated success stories of individual players are no longer sufficient. The market collates vast arrays of data serving the basis for analysis and decision-making. This is precisely why I see a need for the introduction of diverse indices. The ERAI Index is particularly valuable: it consolidates such parameters as rates and delivery speeds, and maps out existing routes traversing the territories of Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Russia. It is a vital tool that is being actively employed and directly influences the cultivation of client trust and decision-making. I am confident it will become one of the key indices in our transport industry.
As for our company, TLK Media, we emerged back in the 2010s, when the market was only beginning to grasp that we—Kazakhstan—are the nexus of Eurasian trade. And all trade rests upon logistics and transport routes. This gives rise to numerous issues, including contentious ones, which must be articulated, clarified, and resolved through finding common ground. This must be done not only within a limited circle but also in the public domain, on discussion platforms.
We are strongly influenced by the attitude of potential clients and society at large. The transport and logistics industry is a driver and locomotive of Kazakhstan’s economy. This is understood not only by us, transport professionals, but also, at long last, by the general public.
You noted that indices are an instrument of trust. Many, including yourself, have also referred to them as a benchmark—a reference point for companies and the market. Do you see an opportunity to use them as a basis for forward and futures contracts?
Absolutely. On a global scale, this is not a novel practice: price indices have long existed in maritime shipping, as well as in the fuel and energy sector and the aviation industry (for instance, the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index, LPI).When a vast body of data accumulates, it must be competently interpreted to enable well-considered operational and investment decisions: for budgeting, risk assessment, and hedging. Once established as reliable, independent indices become a dependable reference point and an indispensable tool for a broad spectrum of logistics market participants. On a global scale, this is not a novel practice: price indices have long existed in maritime shipping, as well as in the fuel and energy sector and the aviation industry (for instance, the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index, LPI).
When a vast body of data accumulates, it must be competently interpreted to enable well-considered operational and investment decisions: for budgeting, risk assessment, and hedging. Once established as reliable, independent indices become a dependable reference point and an indispensable tool for a broad spectrum of logistics market participants.
You mentioned that we are at the heart of Eurasian transit, yet many experts speak of competition among Eurasian transport corridors, which are nevertheless part of the broader 1520-gauge space. How promising do you see the idea of a common positioning of all trans-Eurasian corridors, primarily for shippers and freight forwarders in China and Europe? And how promising is the creation of a «family» of price indices covering trans-Eurasian corridors?
You put it very aptly with the word «family» of indices. Professionals who will read this interview and who work with indices understand that a given index applies within specific boundaries and cannot be mechanically extrapolated to the economy of one route, let alone all of them in aggregate. We constitute a single Eurasian space of transport routes. At the same time, there are several routes: the one traversing Kazakhstan, Russia, and Belarus; the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR); and the North—South corridor. Each has its own objectives, cargoes, and customers, and all of them pass through Kazakhstan.
Globally, what matters to China and to European countries is not so much competition as diversification. Depending on their objectives, they will opt for a particular route based on objective assessments rather than subjective preferences. At present, the routes still position themselves as self-contained entities and judiciously leverage their competitive advantages. But the ultimate goal is client satisfaction. And what matters to the client is to perceive all these routes as a single, comprehensive delivery capability between West, China, North, and South. On the one hand, the routes need to be consolidated, brought to common standards of quality, transparency, and trust. On the other, the existing differences must not be levelled out. It is precisely these differences that spur the routes to develop: where efficiency can be enhanced, they improve their performance—healthy competition is beneficial. At the same time, I repeat, each route is tailored to different clients and different objectives.
Full transparency does not mean ceding a competitive advantage to another route. It merely affords the client the ability to see clearly which path to take, where difficulties arise, and how to diversify risks across the entire transport space. I see no problem in uniting and pursuing common strategic objectives across all the routes. That is precisely what our information, discussion, and expert platforms exist for.
Information hooks alone are insufficient. On these and many other issues, market participants will inevitably disagree: one party holds one assessment, another holds a different one, and government bodies may adopt a position that is altogether bureaucratically passive.
It is precisely live discussion and expert platforms that hold the future. We are only just building the processes; time is scarce, and we must work efficiently. We cannot proceed in the old manner: with endless letters and protracted approvals. We need to meet professionally, demonstrate our competencies, and find common ground there and then. Otherwise, a natural question arises: why are you in our industry at all if you are incapable of finding solutions?
You not only head a media holding but also founded the expert platform TransExpert.kz. Which topics are currently generating the most heated debate within Kazakhstan’s professional community, particularly against the backdrop of the changes at Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) and other developments?
We have built a fully-fledged media ecosystem, moving from the real needs of the market rather than offering something artificial—much the same as with the indices. TransExpert.kz is an information and analytical resource. When the volume of data grows, its competent interpretation becomes essential. We provide a cross-section of statistics and expert analytics, helping both society and the state to navigate. It is important to understand what business is thinking and what tasks it is addressing, just as it is to understand why the state makes the decisions it does. We launched the expert discussion platform «Magistral». The President of Kazakhstan has repeatedly noted in his addresses that, instead of chaotic discussions on social media that unsettle society, there is a need to move towards constructive expert debate, the search for common ground, and the development of shared solutions. It is precisely on this platform that we raise the most acute and pressing topics.
First, infrastructure and its development, and technology. Second, pricing and the economics of decisions, where indices in particular come into play. Third, investment issues, which are closely tied to transparency. The growth in transit volumes alone explains nothing. One needs to understand how to use this data, what the trends are demonstrating, and what actions they demand. Finally, personnel and competencies. The industry faces serious challenges, and it is important to understand who will implement them and how.
The appointment of a new head of the national company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy is currently being actively discussed. By tradition, it is assumed that a railway must be run by a railwayman. However, the company is preparing for an IPO. Going public means attracting substantial investment funds required to address large-scale objectives—from infrastructure to digitalization. And this demands absolute transparency and a clear understanding of where the funds are going and what results they yield. At present, the main emphasis is on bringing order to data and performance indicators. Our analytical and discussion resources help to ensure precisely this necessary public oversight, which is an advantage for the company’s operations.
A follow-up question regarding the planned initial public offering (IPO) of KTZ on the stock exchange. How might this event affect international freight forwarders’ confidence in the transit potential of Kazakhstan and the Eurasian space as a whole, and could price indices prove useful in this regard?
The IPO will undoubtedly have a positive impact on the transit potential of Kazakhstan and the entire Eurasian space, albeit subject to the competent regulation of this complex procedure. It will simplify global investors’ understanding of the applicable standards and facilitate the attraction of resources into a rapidly growing industry. The openness and transparency of the national company’s internal financial structure will enable accelerated financing of infrastructure objectives, scaling of transit operations, and the deployment of new technologies, including the integration of interstate systems within the digital domain. At recent forums, much was said about digitalization. Everyone has now rushed into this field: developing programmes, testing them, and then encountering integration challenges. This is a natural «settling-in» process. Time is in short supply, so we hope that experts and executives will accelerate this process. Naturally, such active investment in IT solutions inevitably entails certain costs, but this is part of the journey.
As for indices in this global process: the price index must expand its practical application, becoming first an important and subsequently an indispensable tool for forecasting and decision-making. The movement towards its institutionalization is inevitable, but this will take time. Making it immediately mandatory for tender documentation or state planning, absent sufficient market confidence, is impracticable. For now, the priority is to accumulate practical experience. The more successful cases and the greater the confidence on the part of those who use the index for contractual purposes, the sooner it will be incorporated into strategic state planning documents. At the same time, the index must invariably remain independent. And it will be independent and credible only once a substantial and verified body of practical application has been accumulated.
