Steep freight increase at Europe's biggest Silk Road terminal

Over the last year or so, Warsaw-based logistics company Symlog has recorded a steep rise in freight activity.

"We had the pandemic, the war starting in Ukraine and the Red Sea crisis," Symlog's Mateusz Grzywacz tells CGTN. "All of those factors created uncertainty in the market. But at the moment we feel that the situation is stabilizing so the volume is recovering."

Since 2021, the number of containers coming from China to Poland had dropped by more than a third due to the global economic slowdown. But Symlog watched the freight volume rebound by the end of 2024 before a potential new record high in 2025.

Despite Western criticism over transporting goods via Russia, the Polish freight sector seems to be recovering.

"We are using only the way through Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus. And even in this currently difficult geopolitical situation, we are still using that solution and this solution is quite stable," Grzwacz says.

Strategic central location

Symlog did try to bypass the Northern Silk Road through Russia by using the Middle Silk Road, via the Caspian Sea. It turned out to be less attractive than the northern corridor – in terms of time and expense.

For Polish logistics companies, the Northern Silk Road is a success story - trains are quicker and cheaper than ships using the longer sea route.

"Poland is situated in a strategic and central location on the rail route linking Europe with China," Polish president Andrej Duda said during his state visit to China in 2024. 

"I can say that due to this location, Poland for many years – and especially formally since 2015 – sees itself as part of the great idea of Belt and Road."

Despite Poland's hopes for the Northern Silk Route through Russia, the European Union decided not to co-finance the expansion of the Małaszewicze freight hub at the Polish-Belarussian border. 

Instead, Brussels has been seeking to prioritize other routes through Ukraine. These have been suspended because of the conflict – but the improved economic activity in Małaszewicze seems a good reason for Polish companies to keep investing.