victor07
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Bloomberg analysis.
Putin Builds North Korea Rail to Circumvent Suez Canal - Bloomberg
Putin Builds North Korea Rail to Circumvent Suez Canal
Vladimir Putin is inching closer to his goal of turning Russia into a major transit route for trade between eastern Asia and Europe by prying open North Korea, a nuclear-capable dictatorship isolated for half a century.
Russia in October, 2013 completed the first land link that North Korea’s regime has allowed to the outside world since 2003. Running between Khasan in Russia’s southeastern corner and North Korea’s rebuilt port of Rajin, the 54-kilometer rail link is part of a project President Putin is pushing that would reunite the railway systems of the two Koreas and tie them to the Trans-Siberian Railway.
That would give Russia partial control over links to European train networks 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles) away. The route is as much as three times faster than shipping via Egypt’s Suez Canal, which handles 17,000 ships a year, accounts for about 8 percent of maritime trade -- and is increasingly beset by pirates and political instability in Egypt and Syria.
“Russia’s position is to get North Korea involved in profitable projects to make them realize that cooperation is better than isolation,” Fyodor Lukyanov, head of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy research group in Moscow, said by phone.
Far East Land Bridge, a Russian Railways venture, opened a new service between Suzhou in eastern China and Warsaw on Sept. 30. The first shipment, of “electronic and technology items,” will make the 7,600-kilometer journey in 14 days, linking with the Trans-Siberian via Mongolia and reaching Poland through Belarus, the Vienna-based company said in a statement Oct. 7.
Russian Railways and its counterparts in China and Germany in August introduced a direct link between Hamburg and Zhengzhou in north-central China that takes as little as 15 days and travels through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and Poland.
The Russian and German rail operators opened an 11,000-kilometer service between Chongqing in southwest China and the German transport hub of Duisburg via Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and Poland in 2011. The travel time varies from 16 days to 23 days, according DB Schenker, Deutsche Bahn’s cargo unit.
Putin has urged South Korean President Park Geun Hye, who assumed office in February, to work with North Korea on relinking their rail networks, most recently at the Group of 20 summit in St. Petersburg. Park publicly affirmed her commitment to reunifying the Trans-Korean when she met with officials in Busan, South Korea’s largest port, in July, 2013.
Putin Builds North Korea Rail to Circumvent Suez Canal - Bloomberg
Putin Builds North Korea Rail to Circumvent Suez Canal
Vladimir Putin is inching closer to his goal of turning Russia into a major transit route for trade between eastern Asia and Europe by prying open North Korea, a nuclear-capable dictatorship isolated for half a century.
Russia in October, 2013 completed the first land link that North Korea’s regime has allowed to the outside world since 2003. Running between Khasan in Russia’s southeastern corner and North Korea’s rebuilt port of Rajin, the 54-kilometer rail link is part of a project President Putin is pushing that would reunite the railway systems of the two Koreas and tie them to the Trans-Siberian Railway.
That would give Russia partial control over links to European train networks 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles) away. The route is as much as three times faster than shipping via Egypt’s Suez Canal, which handles 17,000 ships a year, accounts for about 8 percent of maritime trade -- and is increasingly beset by pirates and political instability in Egypt and Syria.
“Russia’s position is to get North Korea involved in profitable projects to make them realize that cooperation is better than isolation,” Fyodor Lukyanov, head of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy research group in Moscow, said by phone.
Far East Land Bridge, a Russian Railways venture, opened a new service between Suzhou in eastern China and Warsaw on Sept. 30. The first shipment, of “electronic and technology items,” will make the 7,600-kilometer journey in 14 days, linking with the Trans-Siberian via Mongolia and reaching Poland through Belarus, the Vienna-based company said in a statement Oct. 7.
Russian Railways and its counterparts in China and Germany in August introduced a direct link between Hamburg and Zhengzhou in north-central China that takes as little as 15 days and travels through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and Poland.
The Russian and German rail operators opened an 11,000-kilometer service between Chongqing in southwest China and the German transport hub of Duisburg via Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and Poland in 2011. The travel time varies from 16 days to 23 days, according DB Schenker, Deutsche Bahn’s cargo unit.
Putin has urged South Korean President Park Geun Hye, who assumed office in February, to work with North Korea on relinking their rail networks, most recently at the Group of 20 summit in St. Petersburg. Park publicly affirmed her commitment to reunifying the Trans-Korean when she met with officials in Busan, South Korea’s largest port, in July, 2013.
