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China, Kazakhstan aim to double container traffic to Europe via new route

Eugene Gerden, Special Correspondent
Aug 25, 2015 10:05AM EDT

News link:
http://www.joc.com/rail-intermodal/international-rail/asia/china-kazakhstan-aim-double-container-traffic-europe-new-route_20150825.html

China and Kazakhstan are working to more than double containerized rail traffic bound for Europe via the launch of the Trans-Caspian international transport route connecting China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.

Both countries plan to increase volume on the Almaty-Lianyungang route from the current 100,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units per year to 250,000 TEUs by the end of this year, said a Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman.

The launch is scheduled for the middle of September and the transit time between China and Kazakhstan on the new route will be 6 to 7 days.

Askar Mamin, head of the Kazakhstan Temir, the national railway company of Kazakhstan, said the growing cooperation between Kazakhstan and China since 2012 has increased container traffic moving to Europe from China via Kazakhstan twelvefold. He declined to provide exact figures.

Kazakhstan has made a concerted effort to be a corridor for containerized goods, having already signed a deal with DHL to provide more trains for a China-Europe service while Azerbaijan is working to expand its port and rail operations at Baku to handle containers originating in China.

China-Europe rail services continue to grow in popularity with shippers looking for a third way between the low costs and slow transit times of water services and the express and exorbitantly priced cargo airlines.

The Chinese government also plans to increase containerized rail traffic to Europe by wringing more efficiencies from the International North–South Transport Corridor, which is the ship, rail, and road route for moving freight between India, Russia, Iran, Europe and Central Asia.

Contact Eugene Gerden at [e-mail].