BANGKOK/LONDON/ANKARA/BERLIN — Moving goods through Russia used to comprise 60% of business for Rail Bridge Cargo, a European logistics company. Then President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine and nervous customers, particularly in the U.S., began to ask for alternative transport routes.
Seven days after the invasion, Rail Bridge Cargo announced it would stop using the trans-Russia routes on ethical grounds, save for humanitarian supplies, food and medicine. Instead, it looked southward to the so-called Middle Corridor, a key part of China’s plans to build a new, iron silk road from Chongqing to Duisburg in Germany.
