In January the first direct freight train from China arrived in the UK. It arrived in London (one of the 15 cities in the new network) through the tunnel under the English Channel. The trip took 18 days and the train passed through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, Belgium and France. It took the train half the time of the journey by sea to complete the trip and it was less expensive than air transport, which of the three has by far the smallest capacity.
Last year we wrote about the idea of China strengthening its position in the world economy. Although the "New Silk Road" isn't the official name for the Chinese project, the ancient network of trade routes comes to mind when thinking of this new, revolutionary project. Officially, the Chinese initiative is called "One belt, one road". The Chinese government, investing huge amounts of money in the construction and the modernization of infrastructure (mainly the railroads), wants to reduce the time it takes to transport goods between China and the countries in Europe, Asia and Africa. This can be potentially beneficial to all of the countries included in the new network. China will be able to strengthen its leader position in the global economy and other countries will benefit from the modernization of infrastructure, as well as from the movement of goods and the increase in the number of jobs.
Although there were a few complications, China should be happy with how this first trip went. The train, greeted in London with white confetti, was transporting mainly shipping containers filled with clothing. However we know that it is able to transport a wide range of products, starting from the said clothing and ending with cars. Railroads can also be completed even faster as the railroads in Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan are constructed in a slightly different way than in other European countries which, in turn, leads to the necessity of the reshipment of goods.
It is worth mentioning that one of the main beneficiaries of the "One belt, one road" initiative might be Poland. Why? The reason is very simple. Looking at the new route Poland is located almost perfectly. China wanting to quickly reach Germany and other Western European countries will probably want to cooperate with Poland, and every country would like to have China as its ally. As the route also passes through Russia, maybe Poland would be able to improve its relations with the Russians as well. However, Toshiya Tsugami - a Japanese expert on the Chinese markets - isn't as enthusiastic about the project as in his opinion it isn't as spectacular as it was expected. By the end of last year China realized only 4 investments and that, according to Tsugami, is not enough. Nevertheless, the good news is that he stated that those investments were likely to be durable as they were made with great caution.
