Port and channel dredging on the Caspian after the fall in water level: Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia

Court et al. (Communications Earth & Environment, 10 April 2025) wrote that access to the Caspian from the Volga could be compromised by a decline of as little as 5 m, "with dredging already implemented to keep passage for larger vessels open", that operators of offshore oil facilities in the northern Caspian "are dredging channels to maintain shipping logistics", and that operations at Aktau port and a desalination plant intake had been disrupted by declining water levels. Kazakhstan's Transport Minister Marat Karabaev said in December 2023, according to Ports Europe, that urgent dredging at Kuryk would be completed by July 2024. Kazakhstan Temir Zholy announced on 21 November 2024 that Kuryk dredging had finished ahead of schedule, with over 990,000 cubic metres removed in four months by Jan De Nul Kazakhstan LLP and a depth of 7 to 8 m in the port and approach channel; no cost was stated.

Aktau port dredging began in 2025. The Times of Central Asia reported on 12 May 2025, crediting gov.kz, that the port would be deepened by 1.5 to 2 m with Jan De Nul equipment, to finish in the fourth quarter of 2025. The Astana Times reported on 13 October 2026 that the port administration gave the project as 20.6 billion tenge (US$45.6 million), financed by the Kazakh government and Ministry of Transport partly through loans, covering 77.1 hectares of port waters and about 1.3 million cubic metres, with China Harbour Engineering Company as general contractor and depths rising from 4.5–5 m to 6–7 m; the main phase began in October 2026 and is scheduled to finish at the end of 2026. The port administration said reports of a French company's involvement were incorrect and expected maritime cargo transport costs to fall by approximately 10–15%. The Astana Times (10 January 2026) separately reported Aktau annual dredging costs of roughly 400 million tenge, re-berthing of grain vessels at about 1 million tenge per ship, and an average Aktau depth of 4.5 m against 6.5–7 m needed for full operations.

A second Kuryk project, deepening port waters and the approach channel to five metres, was reported by the Times of Central Asia on 24 December 2025 as fully financed by ERSAI, using its own dredger, with dredging planned for January to June 2026 and no cost disclosed. The Times of Central Asia (9 September 2026) wrote that "Kazakhstan's infrastructure plan puts the cost of the Kuryk dredging project at approximately $56.8 million", that around $39.8 million "has been allocated for dredging the port waters" at Aktau, that Bautino dredging was planned at around $17.6 million, and that another approximately $65.2 million was planned for Berth No. 12 reconstruction and Berth No. 3 extension; the article summed the projects listed at roughly $179 million. That article also gives Kuryk as 1.7 million cubic metres and 8.5 m, which differs from Kazakhstan Temir Zholy's November 2024 figures.

In Azerbaijan, Reuters reported on 21 August 2025 that more than 250,000 cubic metres were dredged at the Dubendi oil terminal in 2024, that oil and oil-product transport there fell to 810,000 tons in the first half of 2025 from 880,000 tons a year earlier, and that Baku International Sea Port director Eldar Salakhov linked the fall to the lower water level; a new dredger, the Engineer Soltan Kazimov, was due in service. No cost was given. In Russia, Ports Europe reported on 28 May 2025 that the state agency Rosmorport had removed about 1 million cubic metres from the Volga-Caspian Sea Shipping Canal since 2 April against a 7 million cubic metre target for 2025; no cost or stated reason appeared in the part of the article that could be read. For shipping, Alakbar Azizli of the Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Company said at Baku Climate Action Week that one of the company's ferries could carry only 80% of a full cargo load from Kazakhstan.