Silk Road Transport Corridors: Assessment of Trans-EAEU Freight Traffic Growth Potential (original) (raw)

Trans-Eurasian Container Traffic: a Belt and Road Success Story

2020

Countries in Northern and Central Eurasia, including its largest economies, Russia and Kazakhstan, were among early believers in the value of the Belt and Road Initiative. Over the last years, they increasingly embraced various aspects of the BRI, most importantly additional investment and rising volumes of trans-Eurasian traffic. The latter, apart from being a lucrative business on its own, should eventually lead to better internal connectivity between inner-Eurasian regions. In this article I provide data and estimates for the spectacular growth of the volumes of trans-Eurasian container transit. Then I move to explain the underlying reasons and prospects. Finally, there are important remarks on the issue of financing, the role of China, and the role of international financial institutions.

Connectivity, Connectivity, Connectivity: Has the China-Europe Freight Train Become a Winning Run?

2021

In “China and Europe: Reconnecting across a New Silk Road” (Xiangming Chen and Julie Mardeusz ’16, The European Financial Review, February/March 2015), we included a short section about the China-Europe Freight Train (CEFT). The CEFT was then in its fourth year of running, while the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was officially only two years old. A total of 815 freight trains ran between China and Europe in 2015. The pandemic year of 2020 saw 12,406 trains between China and Europe, with another surge during the first six months of 2021. What has changed over a few short years? This article addresses this question by examining the scope of the CEFT’s connectivity and its impact on both ends of a transcontinental rail freight system across Eurasia

Eurasian Rail Freight in the One Belt One Road Era

2018

This paper presents an overview of the recent development of Eurasian rail freight in the One Belt, One Road Era and further evaluates its service quality in terms of transit times and transport costs compared to other transport modes in containerised supply chains between Europe and China. A trade-off model of transit time and transport costs based on quantitative data from primary as well as secondary sources is developed to demonstrate the market niche for Eurasian rail freight vis-a-vis the more established modes of transport of sea, air, and sea/air. In a scenario analysis, further goods attributes influencing modal choice are employed to show for which cargo type Eurasian rail freight service is favourable. According to our calculations, Eurasian rail freight is about 80% less expensive than air freight with only half of the transit time of conventional sea freight. Our scenario analysis further suggests that for shipping time sensitive goods with value ranging from 1.23 USD/k...

The potential of alternative rail freight transport corridors between central europe and china

Trans-Sib, Central and TRACECA for freight transport between Central Europe and China. The paper applies a qualitative research method including a review of current literature and interviews. The research examines the technical, operational and bureaucratic conditions of the corridors. The research finds that the unreliable transit time, higher cost and damage and theft of cargo are the most pressing barriers to towards offering an efficient and integrated logistics and supply chain service along the corridors. This is due to, amongst others, problematic, multiple border-crossings and the lack of visible cooperation among the countries. The technical and operational barriers include a change of gauge, differing power supply and signalling systems and non-automated and fragmented information systems. The research also finds that the Trans-Sib is the most attractive corridor currently running and shows promise with the active contribution from the Russian government and relevant direct stakeholders such as Russian Railway (RZD). The TRACECA route is the most problematic option due to, among others, numerous border-crossings, infrastructure and rolling stock constraints and other associated problems.

The Influence of China to the Container Market in Europe

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR TRAFFIC AND TRANSPORT ENGINEERING

European economy, which has globally been one of the most important for centuries, greatly depends on maritime transshipment. According to the European Commission's data, 74% of cargo, which comes to or leaves Europe, uses maritime transport. Therefore, we can clearly see the importance of ports for economic growth. Over the past decades, containerized transport has become one of the most important ways for transporting cargo, so ports needed to adapt with the new equipment and better capacities. In 2000, the container traffic in EU ports represented as much as 21% of all transshipped containers in the world, while, this percentage was only 18% in Chinese ports. Today, China has become a leading country in the container throughput, with a share of 28%, while the EU's share has fallen to 15%.

The effect of the New Silk Road railways on aggregate trade volumes between China and Europe

Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies

Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your personal and scholarly purposes. You are not to copy documents for public or commercial purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence.

The Silk Railroad. The EU-China rail connections: background, actors, interests. OSW Studies Number 72, February 2018

2018

The report discusses the current state and future prospects of rail connections between China and the countries of the European Union. Special emphasis is placed on the role of Central Europe. It presents the goals and the policy adopted by the Chinese side in the process of building rail connections with European countries, compares the current and the planned transport corridors, offers an analysis of the economic potential of the China-Europe rail connections. It also discusses various business models of cooperation with China in rail transport. The report has been drawn up based on the desk research and interviews with representatives of European and Chinese companies involved in developing rail connections, as well as interviews with Chinese analysts dealing with Belt and Road issues.

Study on the analysis and evolution of international and EU shipping : final report

2015

This report has been prepared for the European Commission concerning the Study on the Analysis and Evolution of International and EU Shipping, and is one of the information sources for the mid-term review of the EU Maritime Transport Strategy. The study describes the evolution of international and EU shipping, analyses international maritime agreements, and puts forward a series of steps to consolidate the EU maritime transport cluster competitiveness internationally. At the same time, the report also covers the social, environmental, and maritime-economic elements shaping the EU shipping industry of the future. Chapters 2 contains a comprehensive description of the existing situation and trends by shipping sectors, country members, trade lanes, and carriers, labour issues etc. Chapter 3 presents the scenario exploration of future developments, divided into three scenarios. Chapter 4 analyses the maritime clauses in the (maritime) agreements of the EU and its Member States and their economic relevance. Finally chapter 5 presents the findings of the stakeholder consultation and offers recommendations for future EC actions concerning the position of EU shipping in the global maritime market. Demand side key developments On the demand side of maritime shipping, from 1980 to date, the economic developments of the world regions shifted from a bi-polar world (Europe and North America) into three poles, including East Asia at the same level, with expectations of becoming the frontrunner by the year 2050, maritime transport plays a crucial role in enabling such a trend in economic growth. At the same time, there are emerging uncertainties regarding the large maritime flows of energy that might be affected by switches to unconventional resources, the increase in renewable resources, or geopolitical concerns for self-sufficiency. This could affect both the demand for maritime transport as well as port infrastructure and facilities for energy storage or refinery. Uncertainty is also fuelled by the switch in Europe over the last decade from Middle East oil towards Russian oil. Lately, this switch has been blocked due to political reasons, but it remains unclear to what extent such a blockage can be maintained. The trade relationship between the EU and China initially started as an import relationship but is becoming more balanced, given that export volumes from the EU towards China have grown faster over the last 15 years than import volumes (a factor five versus three). European exports benefit as the suppliers of processed chemical products and machinery. Furthermore rapidly rising incomes make China and other fast developing countries increasingly important export destinations for the EU. Supply side key developments On the supply side of shipping, worldwide flagging and ownership of vessels are both concentrated activities often located in different countries. Around 40% of the world fleet (expressed in terms of volume) is registered in three specialised countries: Panama, Liberia and the Marshall Islands, but these countries own less than 1% of the fleet. For Japan, South Korea and the USA, the opposite is the case, as they combine a substantial share in ownership with a low share in the flagging of the fleet (25% versus 5%). The EU and China both show a high share in ownership (32% and 13%) as well as in flagging (19% and 12%). 1 Council Directive 2009/13/EC of 16 February 2009 implementing the Agreement concluded by the European Community Shipowners' Associations (ECSA) and the European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF) on the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, and amending Directive 1999/63/EC 2 Directive 2012/35/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 November 2012 amending Directive 2008/106/EC on the minimum level of training of seafarers  Research into schemes which make a maritime career more attractive for EU citizens;  Support the position of the EU as frontrunner in maritime technology in practice, e.g. R&D support measures, enabling the testing of new technologies, such as unmanned ships;  Pay a closer attention to feedering and relay operations when negotiating new agreements, and to the possibilities for EU shipping companies to carry their own cargo in a more efficient way to the port of final destination  Support further research into clarifying the eligibility requirements under the Maritime State Aid Guidelines to extend also to vessels providing offshore services .