BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 24. The most frequently transported type of cargo along the Middle Corridor is products of the chemical industry, the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport of Azerbaijan told Trend.
The Azerbaijan Railways report on transportation along the Middle Corridor for 2022 and the first 8 months of 2023 shows that the following types of cargo are included in the number of cargoes transported along the Middle Corridor:
Chemical products (36 percent),
petroleum and petroleum products (30 percent) ,
food products (15 percent).
metal ores and products of the metallurgical industry (10 percent) ,
other cargoes (9 percent), including building materials, grain and cereals, wood, pulp and paper products, coal and other fuel products, fresh fruits, berries, vegetables, and nuts.
The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (Middle Corridor) is the main route of the East-West Corridor connecting the People's Republic of China with the European Union via Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Türkiye. In operation since 2014, the Middle Corridor is a multimodal transport corridor that is an important alternative to the northern route (China-Kazakhstan-Russia-Belarus-Europe) as well as the sea route through the Suez Canal.
The corridor consists mainly of a railroad section (4,256 km) and a maritime section (508 km). The corridor starts from the China-Kazakhstan border, passes through Kazakhstan, and continues across the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan and Georgia. From Georgia, the corridor extends in two directions: through Türkiye to Europe and across the Black Sea to Ukraine, Romania, and Bulgaria.