BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 25. The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR, or Middle Corridor) demonstrates consistent growth in cargo transportation from year to year, Kazakh Ambassador Alim Bayel told TurkicWorld on the sidelines of the Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan agricultural forum held in the Kazakh embassy.
"The Middle Corridor is attracting great interest not only in our region but also beyond it. We see that various players are showing interest in the route. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev set the goal of achieving a fivefold increase in cargo turnover through the Middle Corridor, and we are making good progress towards this goal.
We have roughly doubled freight transportation each year. In 2022, there was a twofold increase, and in 2023, there was almost a twofold increase. This year, we are also seeing good growth," he noted.
According to him, last year, the volume of cargo transportation was nearly 2.8 million tons.
"This year, we expect the figures to exceed 4 million tons, possibly reaching 4.5 million tons. The dynamics are good, but of course, this is still not enough.
If we continue to work at this pace, promptly remove all barriers, resolve bureaucratic issues, and organize work based on a single-window principle, then the volume of 10 million tons per year is not far off. We also hope for a further increase in volume," the ambassador added.
The Middle Corridor links the container rail freight transportation networks of China and the European Union countries via Central Asia, the Caucasus, Türkiye, and Eastern Europe.
The multilateral multimodal transportation infrastructure links the ferry terminals of the Caspian and Black Seas with the railway systems of China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Türkiye, Ukraine, and Poland.
The Middle Corridor facilitates the flow of cargo from China to Türkiye, as well as to Europe and vice versa.
The route train along this corridor delivers cargo from China to Europe in an average of 20–25 days, and this is one of the main advantages of this transport corridor.