AZERTAC reports that the first freight train from Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, one of China’s most economically developed regions, has departed for Istanbul (Türkiye) via the route Central Asia – Caspian Sea – Azerbaijan – Georgia – Black Sea. This train marked an important breakthrough in developing the logistics corridor between Guangdong Province, the Greater Bay Area that includes Hong Kong and Macao, and Türkiye. The train that departed from Guangzhou International Port on September 6 is carrying 50 forty-foot containers with household appliances, clothing, and other goods.
The train, operating on a multimodal "rail-sea-rail" transport model, is expected to arrive in Istanbul within 20 days.
As reported in August by big5.news.cn, Türkiye’s Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Enver Ursurt, stated on August 4 that the transit time for China-Europe freight trains traveling from China to Türkiye via the “Middle Corridor” has been reduced to 15 days. At the departure ceremony held that day in Istanbul (Türkiye), two China-Europe freight trains departed from Istanbul to Łódź (Poland) and Budapest (Hungary). E. Ursurt explained that one of the trains, departing from Chengdu and carrying 508 tons of cargo, traveled from Alashankou (Xinjiang) along the Middle Corridor to the city of Kars on Türkiye’s eastern border, reducing transit time to 15 days.
The “Middle Corridor,” also known as the Trans-Caspian International Transport Corridor, is a multimodal transport route starting in China, passing through Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and onward to Türkiye and European countries. In 2015, China and Türkiye signed a memorandum of understanding aligning the Belt and Road Initiative with the Middle Corridor initiative.
