Middle Corridor freight volumes climbed past 4 million tonnes in 2024
Trans-Caspian cargo grew 63% year-on-year as shippers route Europe–Asia freight around the Northern Corridor — and 2025 targets point higher still.
The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) — widely known as the Middle Corridor — carried roughly 4.1 million tonnes of cargo in the first eleven months of 2024, a 63% increase on the same period a year earlier, according to figures reported by the TITR association.
Containerised traffic grew even faster. Container volumes reached about 50,500 TEU over January–November 2024, a 2.6-fold jump year-on-year, as more Europe–China cargo moved away from the sanctions-affected Northern Corridor through Russia.
Why it matters for road freight
The corridor is multimodal — rail and Caspian/Black Sea ferries for the long legs, road for first- and last-mile and for shorter cross-border runs. As overall volumes rise, road hauliers on the Tbilisi–Baku and Tbilisi–Istanbul lanes see more consistent load availability and firmer rates when capacity tightens.
The 2025 outlook
Route members are targeting about 5.2 million tonnes for 2025, with roughly 4.2 million tonnes moving through member countries, alongside a goal of 1,000 block-train journeys. Reliability — not just volume — remains the deciding factor for shippers weighing the Middle Corridor against longer maritime routes.
Sources
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