Due to the events in Ukraine, EU importers began to show serious interest in transport corridors from China through the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea, instead of the previous corridor that passed through the territories of Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus, reported on the official website of the TELS International Group of Companies.
One of the alternatives to transport and cargo corridors through Russia and Belarus is the route Azerbaijan - Georgia (Batumi) - the Black Sea ports of Romania and Turkey.
Turkey, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Azerbaijan signed a declaration on the Central East-West Trans-Caspian Corridor on March 31, 2022. The document also contains plans to expand and modernize the railway line between Baku, Tbilisi and Kars (Turkey).
Already on April 13, the first freight train left Chinese Xi'an for the city of Mannheim in Germany, bypassing Russian territories. The new route is laid through Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia, then along the Black Sea to Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic - and to Germany. The length of the route was 11,3 thousand kilometers.
Now three ships with a total capacity of 600 TEU run from the port of Aktau in Kazakhstan to Baku. According to Gaidar Abdikerimov, Secretary General of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Association (TITR), it is planned that by September this year the number of vessels will increase to six.
Nevertheless, certain logistical difficulties are associated with the operation of the new transport corridor, affecting the regularity of the message, the timing of deliveries and their cost. Also, railway transshipment points have yet to be adapted to a sharp increase in cargo flows.