Who do you call for the New Silk Road?
A call for co-ordination, made at the recent European Silk Road Summit in Venlo, the Netherlands, brought to mind a classic problem for international trade with continental Europe. As Henry Kissinger once said, “If I...Read more
DB Cargo focuses on Kaliningrad route
Two subsidiaries of Deutsche Bahn have turned their look to the Kaliningrad route of China – EU railway corridor. DB Cargo Logistics and DB Cargo Polska intend to develop new train multimodal connections through Kaliningrad...Read more
European Silk Road Summit live blog: day 1
On 26 and 27 November the European Silk Road Summit took place. This event, held in the Dutch hub of Venlo, is the third edition of the previously named Silk Road Conference. Over two days,...Read more
Venlo, Baku and Austria join hands on the New Silk Road
ÖBB’s Rail Cargo Group, the Port of Baku and the Dutch Cabooter Group have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) today to jointly develop the Middle Corridor, which connects Europe and China via Turkey and...Read more
A hitchhike on the train from Urumqi to Rotterdam
This month Rotterdam was the final destination of the first groupage cargo train from China. After departing from Chongqing last month, it picked up wagons in Urumqi, the border region of China to head for...Read more
From China to Gdańsk port in 12 days by rail
DCT Gdansk, the only deep-water terminal on the Baltic Sea, has inaugurated its first container train service to/from China. It provides a faster connection than ocean shipping between the Chinese city of Xi’an and the...Read more
Sławków instead of Vienna: new hub on New Silk Road?
For over ten years a plan has been on the shelves to extend the broad gauge railway further into Europe via the Košice – Vienna railway line. This would provide a faster connection with the...Read more
‘Mega ships do not pair with New Silk Road trains’
The Belt and Road initiative (BRI) is not only the growing network of rail freight connections between Europe and China. It is the integration of maritime and land-based transportation and logistics routes between these continents....Read more
New feeder services Kaliningrad add to multimodal puzzle
Due to strong market demands, shipping line Unifeeder is adding Kaliningrad to its feeder and shortsea network. Starting 8 December, a new, weekly service will call both terminals in Kaliningrad, Sea Commercial Port and Baltiysk,...Read more
FESCO tests new train from China to Hamburg via Kaliningrad
The Russian enclave of Kaliningrad is gaining significance on the New Silk Road as more and more logistics companies turn to the region’s railway border crossings with Poland. The latest service launched is Silkway Amber,...Read more
First direct rail freight link from Turkmenistan to China
In over a month after launching the direct rail freight link to Afghanistan, China inaugurated a container train to another Central Asian state – Turkmenistan. The new service connects Kelif railway station in the eastern...Read more
From China to Iran via Kyrgyzstan: is the faster rail link real?
Despite all complexities and tensions, China does not cease its efforts to establish a new railway from Xinjiang to Uzbekistan. The future line is expected to run via mountainous Kyrgyzstan and connect the Chinese city...Read more
Middle Corridor: more options for transit from China to EU
Six years after the official launch, the Marmaray Tunnel that connects the European and Asian part of Turkey has been opened for rail freight operations. As a result, containers from China to Europe could be...Read more
‘West invests more in Belt and Road than China’
The West, and Europe in particular, could be a little more confident towards China when it comes to investments made in the region marked by the New Silk Road. This is the conclusion of German...Read more
First container train from China arrives in Serbia
China Railway Express has tested a new link to Europe. For the first time, a Chinese block train arrived in Serbia. It delivered equipment to be used by Chinese workers for the construction of the...Read more
New Silk Road mature enough to withstand subsidy reduction?
Now that a reduction of Chinese subsidies for Eurasian rail freight have been more or less announced, speculation on further growth has started. Will there be a standstill, slow down or on the contrary, continued...Read more