China–Europe trains bypassing Belarus–Poland border

On 26 September, the first China–Europe freight train departed from Xi’an in north-western China, bound for Germany via a new multimodal (rail-and-marine) transport route. The Xinhua news agency reports that the train will transport auto parts, digital devices, and consumer goods to Hamburg.

The freight train travelling from Xi’an will go across Kazakhstan and Russia before arriving in St. Petersburg. In St. Petersburg, the goods will be transhipped onto a vessel for transport across the Baltic Sea to Hamburg. From there, the goods will be shipped to other regions of Europe, such as Duisburg, Budapest, etc.

In the context of the risk of border closures between Belarus and Poland for political reasons, routes between China and Europe that bypass the Belarus–Poland border are becoming increasingly relevant.