Port of Poti (Georgia)
, the transport market is seeking – instead of via Moscow – new routes from Europe through the Caucasus to the Chinese border. A new corridor has emerged as an alternative. Hamburg-based HHLA is participating in this route with its "hinterland transport" by rail.
An HHLA subsidiary called Metrans established a logistics center in Malaszewicze, Poland, in early January 2022, shortly before the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in February, to serve the northern rail corridor to China. Business there has now come to a standstill.
This brings the central corridor, known as the "Central Trans-Caspian Network" (CTCN), further into focus. The southern route of this CTCN runs overland through Turkey via Kars. A railway line from Kars, through Armenia and Georgia, to the Azerbaijani port of Baku on the Caspian Sea, was opened at the end of October 2017. Alternatively, there is a connection from the Romanian port of Constanța across the Black Sea to the Georgian port of Poti and then by rail to Baku.
All images: HHLA
Martin Koubek, Metrans coordinator for the Silk Road: "Since rail freight traffic between Europe and China via Russia has a transit time of about 14 days , we had to find a comparable solution."
Frank Busse, a partner at HHLA subsidiary Hamburg Port Consulting, describes the infrastructure along the entire route as "limited." He currently estimates the traffic volume on the central corridor at around 80,000 TEU. Various studies forecast an annual transport potential of between 130,000 and 850,000 TEU by 2040.
Calm in Malaszewicze (Poland)
To this end, the capacity of the Kazakh ports of Aktau and Kuryk is to be expanded to up to 120,000 TEU. Currently, Aktau handles only about 30,000 TEU per year. While Azerbaijan's western Caspian Sea ports of Baku and Alyat are "better positioned," the rail connection between Baku and Poti "is not designed to transport hundreds of thousands of additional containers," Busse explains. Therefore, the infrastructure along the Caspian Sea is being expanded further westward. Port expansions are also planned in Turkmenbashi (Turkmenistan) and Baku.
Here is the full report by HHLA author Kerstin Kloss
