1. University of Edinburgh, 3-5 July 2012
RGS-IBG Annual International Conference
University of Edinburgh, 3-5 July 2012
Eurasian Landbridge and the Baltic ports Arnaud Serry University of Orleans

2. Introduction Sea transport “royal road” between Europe and Asia
Many alternatives are studied : Air/Sea , Eurasian Landbridge…
Landbrige: traffic that is transiting across a continent en route to overseas destinations.
But used as the generic term to label any form on long distance inland transportation.
→ Baltic States are positioning themselves as potential privileged spaces for the development of intermodality
Sea transport is the main way of goods’ transportation between Europe and Asia: using the royal road, passing through the Suez Canal.
Many alternatives are studied, as the sea-air one, but it is expensive and limited to specific product families. using rail transportation through Russia appears like the more realistic.
One of the main reasons for this interest in landbridges is the size of trade between Europe and Asia.
The term landbridge applies to traffic that is transiting across a continent en route to overseas destinations. The term landbridge has increasingly be used as the generic term to label any form on long distance inland transportation, or an inland service enabling to by-pass a maritime segment.
In this context, the Baltic States are positioning themselves as potential privileged spaces for the development of intermodality.
Besides the theoretical presentation of landbriges, and the Eurasian possibilities, the communication will also focus on the Baltic States ports integration in this transcontinental bridge, east-west interconnected and multimodal corridor.

3. Short History of Landbridges
Silk Road : most enduring trade route in human history
Land only routes prevailed well into the 15th century.
Development of rail networks
→ First modern landbridges : Canadian Pacific Railway
modern landbridges associated with developments in intermodal transportation
1979, first dedicated express container trains across the United States.
The Silk Road can be considered as one of the first significant landbridge and the exception to the short land segment rule.
Land routes prevailed well into the 15th century. → Ships
The development of rail networks permitted to change landbridges to long distance inland services.
The setting of modern landbridges is strongly associated with developments in intermodal transportation.
In 1979, American Presidents Line (APL) ran the first dedicated express container TOFC (Trailers On Flat Cars) trains across the United States between Los Angeles and New York via Chicago.

4. Definition
Landbridge : Traffic that is transiting across a continent en route to overseas destinations : traffic between Western Europe and Japan.
Shipments from one side of the continent to the other is another category : China to Germany.
Regional traffic may use the overland corridor for a portion : Western Europe and Kazakhstan.
But 2 major characteristics :
a single bill of lading
goods remain in the same container.
Landbridge: Traffic that is transiting across a continent en route to overseas destinations. It is exemplified by a land transit over the continent and an ocean sailing at least at one end, such as traffic between Western Europe and Japan.
Shipments from one side of the continent to the other is another category, since it follows an all-land routing. Freight shipments by rail between Germany and China would fall into this category.
A further group of shipments is the regional traffic that may use the overland corridor for a portion of its length, such as the traffic between Western Europe and Kazakstan.
There are two major characteristics of a landbridge freight service:
First, there is a single bill of lading issued by the freight forwarder that covers the entire intermodal journey.
Second, the goods remain in the same container for the entire journey.

5. North American designations
4 main types of landbridges:
Landbridge: Using a landmass as a link in a maritime transport chain involving a foreign origin and destination.
Mini landbridge: Using a landmass as a link in a transport chain involving a foreign origin and a destination at the end of the landmass.
Micro landbridge: Using a landmass as a link in a transport chain involving a foreign origin and an inland destination.
Reverse landbridge: Through a maritime detour reaching an inland destination by using the closest maritime facade instead of the landbridge.
In North America, where landbridging is particularly well developed, specific designations are used,
There are four main types of landbridges:
Landbridge: Using a landmass as a link in a maritime transport chain involving a foreign origin and destination.
Mini landbridge: Using a landmass as a link in a transport chain involving a foreign origin and a destination at the end of the landmass.
Micro landbridge: Using a landmass as a link in a transport chain involving a foreign origin and an inland destination.
Reverse landbridge: Through a maritime detour reaching an inland destination by using the closest maritime facade instead of the landbridge
Whether these terms will ever be applied in the context of the Eurasian land bridge remains to be seen, but clearly there are differences in the types of traffic and this requires that they be differentiated.

6. East-West freight corridor
Trans Siberian railway linking Moscow to Vladivostok, completed in 1916
1960s : landbridge service from Vladivostok using the Trans Siberian to reach Western Europe.
→ Northern East-West corridor or the Eurasian Landbridge
The Eurasian landbridge mainly uses the Russian railways,
The idea to link the Far East and Europe takes its origin with the construction of the Trans Siberian railway linking Moscow to Vladivostok, completed in 1916,
In the 1960s the Soviet Union started offering a landbridge service from Vladivostok using the Trans Siberian to reach Western Europe. This came to be known as the Northern East-West corridor or the Eurasian Landbridge.
The Eurasian landbrige mainly uses the Russian railways. From a purely geographical point of view Russian railways have spread over two continents, connecting Europe and Asia. From a purely geographical point of view Russian railways have spread over two continents, connecting Europe and Asia.

7. Eurasian Landbridge
Beginning of the 21st century : renewed interests for the new corridor
Composed of a maritime segment and a land segment:
Links the Atlantic coast of North America with north European ports.
two major rail segments: the conventional Siberian Landbridge and the potential Eurasian Landbridge.
The beginning of the 21st century has however brought renewed interests for the new corridor, especially with the booming Asian trade and the increasing pressure to ship containerized freight.
composed of a maritime segment and a land segment:
Maritime segment (seabridge). Links the Atlantic coast of North America with north European ports. The transit time is about 8 (Halifax) to 10 (New York) days.
Land segment (landbridge). There are thus two major rail segments; the conventional Siberian Landbridge and the potential Eurasian Landbridge.

8. Potential corridors
The Trans-Siberian Railway : principal railway link between European Russia and its industrial regions to the east (Siberia, the Urals, etc.).
The Northern Trans-Asian corridor is viewed as the second most developed corridor after the TSR
The Central Trans-Asian corridor runs from the Sino-Kazakh border via Dostyk to Almaty to Volgograd in Russia
A North-South Eurasian corridor: economic interests of Central Asian states and Russia to get better access to the Middle East and South
The Southern Trans-Asian corridor is also a potentially useful route.
TRACECA Trans-Caspian corridor : Dostyk – Tashkent – Ashgabad – Turkmenbashi – Baku – Tbilisi – Poti route
The Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR) : the principal railway link between European Russia and its industrial regions to the east (Siberia, the Urals, etc.).
The Northern Trans-Asian corridor is viewed as the second most developed corridor. It runs from Lianyungang through central and northwest China, Kazakhstan and Russia to Western Europe.
The Central Trans-Asian corridor runs from the Sino-Kazakh border via Dostyk to Almaty to Volgograd in Russia and on to Ukraine (Donetsk-Kiev). This corridor is relatively underdeveloped now.
A North-South Eurasian corridor (or corridors) : access to the Middle East and South Asia and the Indian Ocean, and for example for India to get better access to Central Asian and Russian markets.
The Southern Corridor starts from Lianyungang, and passes through Dostyk, Almaty, Tashkent, Iran and Turkey before reaching the Mediterranean and Black Sea ports.
TRACECA Trans-Caspian corridor. This project includes the Dostyk – Tashkent – Ashgabad – Turkmenbashi – Baku – Tbilisi – Poti route with sea ferry connections to Odessa, Varna, Constanta and Istanbul.

9. Challenges and limits Numerous challenges of the NEW corridor:
Multinational cooperation :
Technical bottlenecks : standard (1.435 m) and broad (1.520 m)
→ reloading or an adaptation of the equipment to gauge change : delays !
Obstacles:
Technical: missing link, single tracking, electrification…
Commercial: As much as time and distance advantages of the landbridge are evident, a critical factor is cost.
Operational: customs clearance and border controls, credibility, reputation.
→ Direct overland shipments remain insignificant.
The necessary infrastructure exists to ensure the setting of the corridor, particularly along the Trans Siberian which is double tracked and electrified.
Among the numerous challenges of the NEW corridor are:
- Multinational cooperation. There are many countries involved in rail land segment that are politically, economically and culturally very different.
Technical bottlenecks : Gauge changes. The rail system works on two gauges, standard (1.435 m) and broad (1.520 m), which imposes at technical challenge. Two gauge changes can take place if the corridor goes to western Europe. In any cases, this imposes additional delays.
The obstacles can be grouped into three categories:
Technical: there are a number of missing links. Because the northern corridors are the most complete, and because of their time advantages, they are receiving most attention. There are other technical difficulties with single tracking and electrification…
Commercial: As much as time and distance advantages of the landbridge are evident, a critical factor is cost.
Operational: Customs clearance and border controls are seen as a potential bottleneck. For a service to have credibility, it has to be safe and reliable. Unfortunately, the Trans Siberian has a very poor reputation.

10. Potentiality for Landbridges
In spite of these challenges, the prospects of the Eurasian Landbridge remain positive.
The northern corridors have received more attention because of the presumed time/ distance advantages.
Step-by-step development
Ports in Europe extend their intermodal connections eastward.
In spite of these challenges, the prospects of the Eurasian Landbridge remain positive. All studies and reports dealing with the landbridge cite the advantage of distance savings of the rail link over maritime transport. A large number of comparisons are drawn: 11,400km from Kobe to Frankfurt by rail corridor, 22,000km by the Suez canal 28 days Rotterdam to Hong Kong by rail, against 33 days by ship.
For all this reason the northern corridors have received more attention because of the presumed time/ distance advantages.
A step-by-step development, rather than a grand system-wide opening appears to offer the best chance for success

11. Baltic opportunities
Baltic States are privileged spaces for the development of intermodality:
Western "natural" terminus of the rail network
Trans-European Networks and emergence of multimodal logistics platforms.
Feeder connections to the Northern Range.
In this context, the Baltic States are positioning themselves as potential privileged spaces for the development of intermodality:
- Western "natural" terminus of the rail network inherited from the Soviet Union, they are now integrated into the European transport system.
- Recent and contemporary developments of the Trans-European Networks induce the emergence of new transport opportunities and of many multimodal logistics platforms.
- Baltic ports are connected by an important feeder network to the Northern Range: the usage of a land segment can insure the continuity of a maritime segment.

12. Baltic ports Main gateways for Russia and CIS. Particularities :
Purpose: Exports of raw materials from Russia and the CIS countries and import of manufactured goods.
Importance of transit
Increasing traffic of crude oil
Increase of regional ro-ro flows
Growth of container movement
Concentration of traffic in some ports: Saint-Peterburg, Primorsk, Tallinn, Riga and Klaipeda.
Eastern Baltic ports were and still are the main gateways for Russia and CIS.
After the collapse of the USSR, half of the former Soviet port capacity of the Baltic sea was located outside Russia. The Baltic range still keep particularities of the Soviet system:
- The purpose of the port system remains mostly similar. Exports of raw materials from Russia and the CIS countries and import of manufactured goods.
Transit flows remain the major components of port traffics.
Four features define the evolution of maritime traffic in the Baltic Range: increasing traffic of crude oil, based on Russian exports, growth of container movements, increase of intrabaltic ro-ro flows and geographical concentration of traffic in some ports. Today the main ports of the range are Saint-Peterburg and Primorsk, but Also Tallinn, Riga and Klaipeda.

13. Railways Importance
Link between port flows and railway transport: good carried by rail.
Main international rail freight concern Russia.
Spatial differentiation of hinterlands, neighborhood…
In the region, there is a traditional link between port flows and railway transport: the major part of good is carried by rail.
Main international rail freight in the 3 Baltic States concern Russia, as a result of port transit activities.
We can notice a spatial differentiation of hinterlands Intensity and distribution of international rail freight:
In Lithuania, flows exist with most post-Soviet states;
In Latvia, the distribution of flows is much more concentrated, with the absence of the Caucasus countries;
Estonia seems to be in an intermediate position.
There is also a phenomenon of neighborhood.

14. Block Trains Rapid growth of container flows
→ Block trains : train in which all the wagons making it up are shipped from the same origin to the same destination, without being split up or stored en route.
“door-to-door” delivery,
safety and
easy border crossing and customs procedures
4 types of “block train” : shuttle, part …
Apart traditional goods, a new kind of traffic dramatically increases: container flows. Ports, railway companies and new operators are setting up block trains.
block train is a railway train in which all the wagons making it up are shipped from the same origin to the same destination, without being split up or stored en route. Block trains enable “door-to-door” delivery, safety and easy border crossing and customs procedures (CIS/EU border in 30 min).
In fact, four types of trains are available for combined transport:
- The unit train ("block train") is a comprehensive direct connection between terminals. The composition of the train (number and type of cars) may vary depending on the needs of the operator;
- The "shuttle" train is a block train of fixed composition
- “Part” train is composed of groups of cars with two or three destinations. The train operates as a block train on a section of the service and the group of wagons is separated from the train to intermediate terminals. The “part” train continues its journey to its final destination;
- The "Y-shuttle" is a ”part” train with a fixed composition.

15. Block Trains In Baltic States
One good example is the Train « Viking » rolling from Klaipeda (Lithuania) to Odessa and Illichivsk (Ukraine), carrying about 40 000 TEUs per year.
On the same pattern, lithuanian and Russian railways are planning a container train Mercury in 2012 between the ports of Kaliningrad and Klaipeda and logistics centers in Moscow.
The “Baltica transit” is a twice weekly train-block service between Riga and Almaty (Kazakhstan). Transit time is 8-10 days. It is operated by FESCO (Far Eastern Shipping Co.).
There are some other projects for instance the AS Baltic Rail, railway polish forwarding company based in Estonia and Poland, which intend to develop regular container train services from Šeštokai (LT), the terminus for European gauge railways, to Saint Petersburg, Moscow and Central Asia. It seems to be an emergent railway transit policy between EU and CIS.

16. Block Trains as the first step to the Landbridge
Northern route through the Baltic Sea : link with The Trans-Siberian Railway or The Northern Trans-Asian corridor.
Avoids transit through intermediate countries: less technical bottlenecks.
Shortest route through Lithuanian ports.
Other beneficiary : German ports as Hamburg.
Baltic countries opportunity : being an important linking element between two major economical unions.
The northern route through the Baltic Sea appears as one efficient opportunity fact the Eurasian Landbridge in link with The Trans-Siberian Railway or The Northern Trans-Asian corridor.
This itinerary stress transfer by ferry, but avoids transit through intermediate countries.
This option provides opportunities for the Baltic ports, particularly Klaipeda in Lithuania, which provides the shortest route.
To the west, the first beneficiary would be the German port of Sassnitz which already presents itself as the Western head of the Siberian line and above the pole of Hamburg.
The Baltic countries due to the external circumstances have a unique opportunity to complete their mission of being an important linking element between two major economical unions in the frameworks of the Trans-continental international logistic chain.

17. Corridor and territory
A corridor takes place in space and in duration.
It should reconcile fluidity and the need for the territories to retain a capital gain
→ If the networks are just superimposed on the territory it is a failure.
A corridor can only function if there are places of interconnections: Baltic Ports, multimodal platforms…

18. Conclusion
a major impact on international trade between two of the main trading blocs of the world?
lots of unanswered questions : cooperation…
Baltic States : well-developed transport system, geopolitical situation
→ of Intermodal Gateway ?
Not limit corridor to logistics solutions !
If the landbridge is developing, it could have a major impact on international trade between two of the main trading blocs of the world, and provide a significant boost to the economies of the countries and regions through which it passes.
However, the Eurasian landbridge is a project with lots of unanswered questions. Integrate the Eurasian continental transport systems and building an efficient logistic chain is impossible without a mutual cooperation.
Baltic States have a comparatively well-developed transport system, convenient geopolitical situation and fairly well developed transport infrastructure. The factor allows them to tune the changes of the transit services market ant to appear as the mediator expanding dealing, using the main corridors of transport between East and West.
The traditional role of the Eastern Baltic ports and contemporary intermodal developments y now place the Baltic States in a position of Intermodal Gateway at the European Union's eastern border.
Anyway, it will be possible to speak of success if it is not limited to a logistics solution and if it becomes a landbridge corridor of development.