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Middle Corridor: What is the Diagnosis? | Long Read |
The World Bank foresees an overall increase
in trade between China and the EU by about 30 percent by 2030, should there be
suitable logistics and transport conditions. Nonetheless, the prognosis
requires having a well-performing corridor to turn into reality. China and
Europe are located on different ends of the world with whopping 9 thousand kilometres
between them. Finding a new transport route to circulate goods between these
two addresses has become a focal point for the entire world. Although the
Middle Corridor is considered a favourite the World Bank experts see numerous
challenges in operating it. How true are these claims and what can we do to
eliminate the shortcomings? We’ve recently been
observing a steadily growing demand for a new route between China and Europe,
but there were leaps at two stages that especially stood out. The first one
happened as Russia had to face Western sanctions and the North Corridor
closed down when the Ukraine war broke out. The sea routes had to shoulder
the burden of goods traffic between the East and the West as a result. The
second stage occurred as the Yemen Houthis got more involved in the Red Sea as
military operations unfolded in Gaza. Their attacks on ships became a
serious threat for the sea route through the Suez Canal, once again
highlighting the urgent need for a reliable land route from China to Europe.
In fact, the options
are not too abundant. The route called the Middle Corridor is the peerless
option, which is exactly why cargo traffic along the MC grew by 33% in 2022
compared to 2021. For some reason though, recent discussions about it tend
to highlight the problems along the corridor rather than its advantages. |