Ukraine’s Ministry of Infrastructure offers carriers to use the new direction of the Silk Road
The Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine announces that on January 15, 2016 there will depart fromIllichivsk a demonstration container train along the route Ukraine - Georgia - Azerbaijan - Kazakhstan - China (through the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea). This route is a new direction of the Silk Route and an alternative way affording to redirect cargo flows in an easterly direction bypassing the territory of Russia. It includes a ferry service along the Black and the Caspian Seas (Illichivsk - Batumi and Alyat - Aktau-Port) and should become competitive in comparison with traditional overland route.
To organise the running of trains, the Ministry of Infrastructure, PJSC Ukrzaliznytsia and the Coordination Committee of the Trans-Caspian international transport route made significant and hard work in 2015. The inclusion of Ukraine in the Great Silk Road was first recorded in the Ukrainian-Chinese inter-agency protocol.
The possibilities of the project of Trans-Caspian international transport route were presented on 16 November 2015 during a road show and on 3 December 2015 at the International forum "Connecting Europe and Asia: a new look at the formation of the transcontinental route system " in Odessa.
To put in operation the container trains there were coordinated technologies, accelerated delivery terms, tariff conditions, determined operators of the train. The demonstration trip will trigger opening an alternative route of delivery of cargoes from Ukraine to the countries of Central Asia. It is planned that the container train will consist of 20 freight cars.
Taking into account the embargo introduced by the Russian Federation on transit of goods through its territory, the Ministry of Infrastructure in synergy with Ukrzaliznytsia will prolong activities to create alternatives to redirect cargo flows in the Eastern direction.
