China-Europe freight links via Caspian route expand

The number of China-Europe freight trains using the Trans-Caspian route rose more than 60 percent year-on-year in the first seven months of 2026, while direct road freight between China and Europe grew more than 70 percent over the same period, according to figures released at a transport meeting in Beijing on Tuesday.

The Trans-Caspian corridor links China and Europe through Central Asia and the Caucasus, with goods crossing the Caspian Sea by ship. It provides businesses with an additional route between the two markets while improving access to international trade for landlocked countries along the corridor.

However, gaps in railway, road and port infrastructure, as well as obstacles to efficient border clearance, continue to hamper the corridor, according to meeting materials. Disruptions to global supply chains have increased the need to address these bottlenecks.

Transport authorities from participating countries issued a joint initiative to upgrade infrastructure, speed up customs clearance and reduce the cost of moving goods along the corridor. They also called for better connections between transport services, wider use of digital systems and closer alignment of standards.

The meeting also released a guide to China-Europe road transport via the Caspian Sea and presented intergovernmental road transport cooperation documents involving China, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan.

More than 200 government, industry and international organization representatives attended the meeting, which was hosted by China’s Ministry of Transport as part of the Global Sustainable Transport Forum in Beijing.