BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 10. International transport and logistics company MALBI-trans, which is based in the Czech Republic, is implementing a pilot project within the Middle Corridor, the General Director of MALBI-trans Liliana Krutonog told Trend on the sidelines of the international conference "Black and Caspian Freight Forum 2024: corridors, cargos, infrastructure" held in Baku.
She mentioned that their company specializes in expedition services.
"We have been considering the opportunities of the Middle Corridor for a long time and are actively working in this direction. We already have a network of partners lined up, and we are now preparing a pilot train that will go through Romania, the port of Constanta, then through Baku, and on to Kazakhstan. This is one of our key intermodal routes," Krutonog noted.
According to her, however, the company faces several problems similar to those on the Northern Corridor, in particular, at the Malashevichi-Brest crossing.
"The major difficulties are infrastructure bottlenecks, the so-called bottlenecks. To improve the situation, we need to expand transportation hubs and increase the capacity of the tracks. For example, through Malashevichi-Brest we can transport 48-40 foot containers by train, while through Constanta - a maximum of 38-40. This significantly affects the cost of transportation," she said.
Krutonog emphasized that MALBI-trans actively participates in tenders, including for projects in Kazakhstan.
"We see that the rates on this corridor are still high compared to other routes, such as Koper or Malashevich-Brest. However, I hope that through conferences and dialogue with partners, we can find ways to optimize costs and improve transportation conditions," she added.
To note, the Middle Corridor links the container rail freight transportation networks of China and European Union countries via Central Asia, the Caucasus, Türkiye, and Eastern Europe.
Multilateral multimodal transportation infrastructure connects ferry terminals of the Caspian and Black Seas with railway systems of China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Türkiye, Ukraine, and Poland.
The Middle Corridor facilitates increased cargo traffic from China to Türkiye, as well as to European countries and in the opposite direction.
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.