The first shipment along the China-Kyrgystan-Uzbekistan-Afghanistan corridor was successful. The first train carrying just two containers in the context of a testing period reached Hairatan in Afghanistan on Friday, 23 September. It departed from the...Read more
Just after she claimed victory in the national elections in Italy, Giorgia Meloni, leader of the far-right party Fratelli d’Italia and the future Italian Prime Minister, expressed her intentions of not renewing Italy’s participation in...Read more
Germany and the Silk Road have a long-standing tradition. It started when the first Eurasian train departed Chongqing in Southeast China on 19 March 2011, with its final destination being Duisburg in Germany. The corridor...Read more
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, which took place on 15 and 16 September in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, seems to be a milestone for developments in Central Asia and the Silk Road. Its economic and geopolitical significance...Read more
In early September, the Chinese battery manufacturer company CATL sealed the building and development of its own factory in Debrecen, Hungary. CATL’s investment project is worth 7,34 billion euros. Apart from strengthening ties with the...Read more
New Energy Vehicles, including electric cars, could probably become the protagonists in Eurasian rail freight transport soon. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce revealed a new strategy to allow the long-awaited transport of electric vehicles via...Read more
For the first time since Azerbaijan company ADY Container added the Black Sea feeder services to its portfolio, Central Asian cargo found its way to Europe using it. The company deployed a multimodal service to...Read more
ANALYSISChina seems to be overtaking Europe in global infrastructure investments, with EU leaders alarmed about the possible consequences. How does China benefit from expanding the Silk Road to other continents, and what could be Europe’s...Read more
The Chinese e-commerce hub of Yiwu has opened its doors again for business after a lockdown period of more than two weeks. For rail freight this means a backlog of cargo that needs to be...Read more
The number of China-Europe freight train trips in 2022 hit the 10,000 mark on Sunday, 21 August. Last year, this milestone was reached ten days later, according to the China State Railway Group. Although growth...Read more
For many years, Germany has hosted the main European hubs on the New Silk Road. But it is time to rethink the western part of the Eurasian corridor, say industry experts, as the German network...Read more
Within a few months, the role of Poland on the international rail freight market has changed completely. Whereas it used to be the gateway to Europe for traffic from Asia with the most heavily consumed...Read more
Belarusian Railways says it has developed a total of 40 new export routes to more than 20 countries, now that sanctions have cut off its traditional routes to the global market. The Transport and Communications...Read more
InterviewThe border crossing at Małaszewicze, the most important for the New Silk Road, experienced a significant decrease in traffic in the first half of 2022. In total, 2,876 trains were handled in Małaszewicze, while in...Read more
The first direct China-Hungary train was launched, with the first train departing from the Shijiazhuang International Dry Port in Hebei province on 15 July. Its destination is the BILK intermodal terminal in Budapest, with an...Read more
Cargo turnover at Latvian ports reached 23,58 million tonnes in the first half of 2022, an increase of 15,2 per cent compared to 2021 and equivalent to 3,1 million tonnes of cargo. This increase was...Read more
Kyrgyzstan has proposed a route through its territory for the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan (CKU) railway line. Plans to construct this railway line received renewed interest by the parties involved, in an effort to seek new routes from...Read more
The transport ministers of Turkey, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Hungary established a quadrilateral coordination council and a rail transport working group. They aim to jointly invest in and develop rail infrastructure, focusing on freight transport. As...Read more
A temporary stop of transloading trains has been issued at the China-Kazakhstan border crossings of Alashankou and Khorgos. The suspension started on Saturday 2 July and will last at least until Saturday 9 July. There...Read more
For the first time in over a decade of stable and continuous growth, freight traffic between China and Europe is experiencing a period of stagnation. In the first half of 2022, freight trains trips between...Read more
The G7, the big leaders of the world, and the EU have pledged to raise 600 billion US dollars (634.56 billion euros) over five years to finance needed infrastructure in developing countries. In the west,...Read more
