Could the 'Middle Corridor' offer a secure trade route that bypasses the Red Sea?

As ships in the Suez Canal and Red Sea face attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels, Europe and China explore options for a more secure supply chain.

Transcript

00:00 The EU and China say they're keen to explore a trade route that avoids the Suez Canal and

00:05 the Red Sea, where shipping is being attacked by Yemen's Houthi rebels.

00:09 The middle corridor would run through Central Asia and across the Black Sea to Europe by

00:13 train and boat, and it's hoped it would make for a more secure supply chain.

00:18 "All the crises, each one with its own silence, affect the international trade routes in the

00:25 region. All these, in the latest analysis, are being translated into increased costs.

00:32 Increased costs of transport, increased costs of security, increased costs of communication."

00:39 The wars in Ukraine and Gaza, the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and increasing tensions in

00:47 US-China relations are all making global trade more expensive.

00:52 "I will tell you that in the last three months, in the container space, we had one or two

00:59 times the increase in the cost of transport."

01:08 Prices have risen for consumers across Europe, and delegates of the 5th Balkans and Black

01:12 Sea Forum see the middle corridor as a great opportunity for their regions to get a big

01:17 economic boost. But there are drawbacks. Cargo would have to be carried over different railway

01:22 systems and passed through multiple border checks, some of which are renowned for their

01:27 bottlenecks.

01:28 "People are thinking about the alternative, another corridor from Europe to East Asia.

01:35 There are three possible alternatives. If the Black Sea can be the central point of

01:47 the corridor, it will also partly depend on the Belize port, and will go through to North,

01:54 to Hungary and to Central Europe."

02:04 Since global trade has slowed, the port of Piraeus has handled about a third less shipping.

02:09 And if the middle corridor materialises, it would be a big boost to Greece's economy.

02:13 [WHOOSH]