Trade along the middle corridor of the China-Europe silk road has expanded significantly since the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Europe's second-largest rail freight company, OBB Rail Cargo Group, says it has multiplied its volumes several times. 

"We see especially a very dynamic growth in 2024 and 2025," the company's CEO Clemens Först told CGTN.

More and more Chinese containers are arriving at Vienna's South Terminal, taking the route via the Caspian Sea. This previously neglected middle corridor of the Silk Road has seen rapid growth in recent years and is becoming a key market for Austria's logistics giant OBB Rail Cargo Group which has been operating direct connections to China since 2008.

Due to Ukraine-related sanctions, the company started to focus on the silk road's middle corridor which avoids Russia and Ukraine and is significantly growing in importance.

Compared to the trans-Siberian northern corridor, the trans-Caspian middle corridor crosses more national borders and bodies of water which leads to bottlenecks. According to the OBB Rail Cargo Group there is potential to speed up travel time.

"There are infrastructure investments being made which will make it more and more competitive not only versus sea freight – where we are competitive already – but also more and more competitive versus the trans-Siberian route," Först said.

In order to increase competitiveness also in Europe, OBB is expanding capacity at Vienna's South Terminal, planning to double the number of handled containers by 2027. The company is also investing at the Chinese end of the freight corridor.

"We have a subsidiary in Shanghai and we're using it to really actively develop not only the China-European relations but also the whole corridor in between," Först says, adding that there is now a "strong sense of importance and urgency to develop this route."

Besides handling containers between China and Europe, logistics companies are also gaining access to new markets along the middle corridor – countries like Kazakhstan, Georgia and Azerbaijan are hoping to benefit as well.