The connection of the Eurasian transport corridors "North-South" and "East-West" can lead to an increase in cargo traffic in the macroregion by 40%. This is the conclusion reached by EDB analysts in the report "The Eurasian Transport Framework".
The volume of cargo transportation along three key corridors passing through Central Asia will grow by one and a half times by 2030 – up to 95 million tons. Container traffic can grow by two thirds – up to 1.7 million TEU (conditional containers), EDB experts estimate.
Currently, the volume of trade turnover of the Central Asian countries with India is three times lower than the potential, believes Yevgeny Vinokurov, Chief Economist of the EDB. The bank expects an increase in the volume of such supplies by $1.9 billion, including $1.6 billion due to exports from India and $0.3 billion from Central Asian countries. In 2023, shipments along the three routes of the North-South corridor amounted to 19 million tons of cargo, of which 12.5 million tons were by rail (mainly grain exports).
Combining corridors can reduce costs for multimodal transport by 15%, but this will require a reduction in downtime at border crossings. The transition to digital technologies will reduce the average passage time through the corridors by four days, while reducing the delivery time by one day is equivalent to 0.8% of the price of transported industrial goods with a high degree of conversion.
