INSTC Route East Proves Competitiveness By Linking Belarus With China

Russian Railways Logistics has signed a contract with one of Belarus’ leading fertilizer producers to provide a complete transport and logistics supply chain for full-scale container transportation of potash fertilizers in transit along the eastern route of the North-South international transport corridor (ITC) to China.

Belarus is the world’s third-largest producer of potash, China is the second-largest agricultural producer meaning linking the two is a vital supply chain issue.

Russian Railways Logistics have said that the route starts in Belarus and transits through Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran by rail, after which loaded containers are shipped by sea to the main ports of China at the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.

Dmitry Kryukov, Deputy General Director of Russian Railways Logistics for Multimodal Transportation stated that “We consider this delivery as a test, but interaction with the customer implies long-term cooperation. Our partner took into account the company’s experience in the development of the North-South railway in general and the Eastern route in particular. We are increasingly seeing a trend that manufacturers are reorienting to alternative sales markets, which makes it possible to diversify the supply chain of finished products. Since the project is being implemented for the first time and in a test mode, it is too early to talk about the timing and volume. If we go to the planned regular shipments, then there will be an understanding of the average transit time and the volumes that the client is ready to send using our transport solution.”

The route illustrates the effectiveness of the INSTC routing across Eurasia as Russia and Belarus move away from supply chains and markets to the West.