ASTANA, Kazakhstan, October 10. The volume of container shipments along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), also known as the Middle Corridor, saw a dramatic increase in 2024, Trend reports.
According to the Ministry of Transport of Kazakhstan, 3.4 million tons of cargo were transported via the Middle Corridor during the first nine months of 2024, marking a 70% increase compared to the same period in 2023.
The surge in cargo volume reflects the strategic significance of the Middle Corridor, which connects China to Europe via Central Asia, the Caspian Sea, and the South Caucasus. In addition to the rise in total cargo, container shipments have seen an even more remarkable growth. The Ministry reported that the volume of containerized freight reached 34,600 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) in the first eight months of 2024, representing an impressive 175% increase from the previous year.
Transit container traffic from China through Kazakhstan has played a key role in this surge, with volumes skyrocketing more than 20-fold over the past year, highlighting the Middle Corridor's expanding role as a viable alternative to the traditional Northern routes.
The Middle Corridor links the containerized rail freight networks of China and the European Union countries through Central Asia, the Caucasus, Türkiye, and Eastern Europe.
Multilateral multimodal transport infrastructure links the ferry terminals of the Caspian and Black Seas to the railway systems of China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Türkiye, Ukraine, and Poland.