Maritime Route. Land Route. Polar Route? Transportation Strategies To Connect Asia To Europe

Abstract

The New Silk Road’, ‘the Polar Route’, ‘the Eurasian Corridor’, ‘the
String of Pearls’, all of these concepts have in common the aim to serve
as promising, alternative trade routes for Mainland China and Europe.
Whatever solution may be chosen, opportunities and dilemmas have to
be weighted by all the stakeholders involved in the process of importing
and exporting goods. Related business topics to consider are: the
making-up of extra cargo volume in Central Asia, the strategic stopover
onto the domestic Russian market, cross-trading opportunities in the
Indian Ocean transshipment hub, and gaining access to promising polar
markets.
The paper considers these routes, focusing on the logistical and
geopolitical challenges that have to be tackled in order to turn
opportunities into real transportation success stories. Our analysis tests
the robustness of the transportation chain, taking into consideration the
“must-haves logistics” along with political and geopolitical matters
sometimes undervalued by supply chain-focused actors. The paper
concludes with a discussion proposing to enlarge the current
international cooperation between Asia and Europe.