The Middle Corridor still has not conquered the hearts of a good portion of the rail freight industry involved in Europe-Asia traffic. However, there is an increasing number of companies showing interest in the route. The latest one is shipping giant Maersk, which ran a pilot intermodal service from the Japanese port of Nagoya to the Turkish city of Ambarli, west of Istanbul.
“The rail section of the route is between Xian (China) and Poti (Georgia) via the Middle Corridor”, said Irakli Danelia, Central Asia and Caucasus Region Business Development Head at Maersk. The Danish shipping company now aims to develop this service further and possibly make it a regular connection.
The route of the whole journey starts from Nagoya and passes through the Chinese ports of Qingdao and Xian. From there, freight trains take the cargo through Kazakhstan and then to Poti, in Georgia. The goods are then transported for their final leg to Ambarli, in Türkiye.
“The route is intended for general trade shipments between Japan, South Korea, China, and Europe”, Danelia added. Maersk’s trust in the Middle Corridor is not something new. At the end of 2023, the company established an intermodal service connecting Poti to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan via this route.
Around the world via the Middle Corridor?
Initiatives such as this one led by Maersk show the growing interest in the Middle Corridor, which connects China and Europe via Central Asian countries. Despite often being considered only as an alternative route, more and more companies are highlighting the potential of this corridor.
If, on the one hand, Maersk considers it viable for a connection between Türkiye and Japan, Kazakhstan tested it as a way to reach the USA. Recently, a freight train left Almaty, in the Kazakh southeast and headed to Poti. There, the cargo was moved to the sea and crossed the Atlantic Ocean all the way to Houston, Texas.