The Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor (TCTC), also known as the Middle Corridor, is a developing network of rail freight, maritime shipping, and cargo handling connections linking markets in East Asia, Central Asia, the South Caucasus, Türkiye, and the rest of Europe.

Considering the TCTC’s unique length and multimodal, multipurpose nature; the large number of host and terminus countries that comprise it; and the significant economic opportunity that the integration of these markets represents, transforming the TCTC into an efficient economic corridor is among the world’s most consequential—and complex—challenges in global trade logistics today. Integration: World-Class Trade Logistics Along the Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor provides an in-depth assessment of the TCTC’s value proposition; its current status and performance gaps; the magnitude of the economic impacts that can be expected from addressing these gaps; and both the investments and the reimagined, transformational solutions that are needed to attain these improvements.

The report makes the case that transforming the TCTC into an economic corridor will take more than investments in infrastructure; it will require integration-driven approaches to trade facilitation, logistics service delivery, and cross-border collaboration. What is at stake is the opportunity to more closely integrate the nations of Eurasia through trade and investment; to boost the economic and job creation performance of TCTC host countries; to facilitate the delivery of more efficient and more cost-competitive logistics services to a diverse range of shippers; and to make Eurasian trade more resilient to market and nonmarket disruptions.

Global experience in corridor building, including from the TCTC host and terminus countries themselves, and these countries’ own plans and aspirations suggest that this momentous opportunity in intercontinental logistics is achievable—with fit-for-purpose measures that can be sustained over time. Through its structured narrative, the report seeks to contribute to the multi-country, multi-stakeholder task of enabling world-class trade logistics in the TCTC.

Report by the World Bank