China is increasing its investment in the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), a strategic trade corridor linking China with Europe while bypassing Russia and Belarus. The development was reported by the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine.<\/p>\n
The route runs through Kazakhstan, across the Caspian Sea, and continues through Azerbaijan, Georgia, and T\u00fcrkiye before reaching European markets. Expanding the corridor allows Beijing to reduce its reliance on traditional logistics routes through Russia, which have become increasingly risky due to the war in Ukraine and international sanctions.<\/p>\n
The corridor stretches approximately 4,750 kilometers, with cargo transit taking 15 to 18 days\u2014roughly three times faster than maritime shipping between China and Europe, which typically requires 45 to 60 days.<\/p>\n
Chinese state-owned companies have already invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the corridor’s infrastructure. Beijing has provided around $70 million in grants, along with equipment valued at approximately $2 million, to the Port of Baku. Chinese companies have also participated in the construction of the new Port of Aktau in Kazakhstan, a project worth approximately $300 million.<\/p>\n
The Trans-Caspian corridor combines rail and road transport with ferry crossings across the Caspian Sea. According to the Ukrainian intelligence service, the route’s current capacity remains limited, although Beijing has the financial resources to significantly expand the project.<\/p>\n
T\u00fcrkiye has also shown strong interest in developing the corridor. In 2015, Ankara and Beijing signed a memorandum of understanding to integrate the route into China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Earlier in June, the corridor’s key segment\u2014the Baku\u2013Tbilisi\u2013Kars railway\u2014became fully operational, completing an alternative overland trade route between China and Europe that bypasses Russia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":151891,"menu_order":0,"template":"","newscat":[9],"newstag":[],"issues":[],"class_list":["post-151890","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","newscat-novosti"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/151890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"newscat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newscat?post=151890"},{"taxonomy":"newstag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newstag?post=151890"},{"taxonomy":"issues","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issues?post=151890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}