China, together with Kazakhstan and Georgia, is creating a new transportation route bypassing russia

After the start of russia's invasion of Ukraine, China has sharply reduced the volume of transit traffic through russia and is launching alternative routes involving neighboring countries.

In particular, on Friday, Kazakh Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov paid an official visit to Tbilisi, where he signed an agreement to establish a joint venture to develop the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), The Moscow Times reports.

Originating in China, the TICT runs through Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan and Georgia, from where goods are delivered to European countries by sea.

During Smailov's visit, an agreement was signed to establish a joint venture between the National Company Kazakhstan Railways JSC and Georgian Railways JSC. The day before, a similar document was signed in Baku with the participation of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC.

The unified logistics company will simplify transportation processes on the TTMC and reduce the delivery time of Chinese goods to the European market by 10-15 days, the Kazakh Cabinet of Ministers emphasized.

Transit from China to Europe via russia fell by 30% last year, according to Mikhail Burmistrov, CEO of Infoline Analytics. The volume of traffic carried by the ULC ERA (a joint venture between russian Railways, Belarusian Railways, and Kazakhstan Railways) began to fall sharply in the first months of the war.

While in January it was 57827 TEU (equivalent to a 20-foot container), in April it was only 31987 TEU. "China will continue to supply goods through russia by rail to Belarus, but it is clear that Europe will not be transporting goods to China through russia in the near future," Burmistrov explained.

Background. It was also reported that China has changed its mind about building a new passenger plane with russia. Beijing decided to abandon all russian developments in the CR929 and replace them with Western ones.