The CAREC Corridor Performance Measurement and Monitoring Annual Report 2022 provides an assessment of the overall performance and efficiency of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program’s transport corridors. It is based on the program’s Corridor Performance Measurement and Monitoring (CPMM) trade facilitation indicator (TFI) data accumulated over the year. The TFIs include (i) time taken to clear a border-crossing point (BCP), (ii) cost incurred at a BCP, (iii) average cost incurred to travel a given corridor, and (iv) average speed to travel along CAREC corridors. These indicators enable the CAREC members to individually and collectively evaluate the impacts of the transport and trade initiatives undertaken in the CAREC region.
Road Transport
Road transport showed broad improvements on all the TFIs. From 2021 to 2022, border-crossing time dropped from 13.6 hours to 9.9 hours (–27.2%). Border-crossing cost declined from $357 to $208 (–41.7%), and total transport cost fell from $1,256 to $945 (–24.8%). Speed without delay (SWOD) and speed with delay (SWD) were both higher too, the former up 1.0% to 42.0 kilometers per hour (km/h) from 41.6 km/h, and the latter rising 8.3% from 21.5 km/h to 23.4 km/h. These material improvements should be taken in context. They occurred as the region’s and the world’s economies and normal trade flows recovered from the deep effects and strict pandemic control measures that greatly suppressed CPMM indicator data in 2021. Year-to-year TFI performance is now likely to resume its longer-term trends.
Rail Transport
The 2022 rail transport TFI results were also generally better than those in 2021, although there were exceptions—TFI 3 and TFI 4 (SWD). Border-crossing time dropped from 51.9 hours in 2021 to 40.6 hours (–21.7%). Border-crossing cost rose from $178 to $215 (20.9%), although total transport cost fell from $902 to $804 (–10.9%). SWOD was up 29.6% from 41.6 km/h to 53.9 km/h, and SWD down 67.3% from 38.0 km/h to 12.4 km/h.
Rail cost performance was affected by several factors. As countries shut down road and air transport early in the pandemic, rail was the only mode of transport available for moving such essentials as food and medical supplies. Rates rose as a result. Shippers were also compelled to shift cargo to rail and thus drive rates up further when ocean maritime rates hit an all-time high. As global maritime rates came down in 2022, and shipments shifted back to ocean routes, demand and freight rates for rail declined. On the other hand, the lower TFI 3 results were partially offset by the higher border-crossing fees (TFI 2), which were driven by increases at the Alashankou–Dostyk and Horgos–Altynkol BCPs on the border between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Kazakhstan.
Country Updates
Individual CAREC countries generally reported improved TFI results in 2022 as they and their neighbors lifted pandemic border control measures imposed during 2020–2021. Shippers and transport operators were often no longer subject to epidemiological checks and waiting times in quarantine. However, the PRC continued strict zero-COVID-19 border control restrictions until the end of the year. Turkmenistan lifted these measures in June 2022.
Caspian Crossings and Impact of Russo-Ukrainian War
The February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine severely impacted the CAREC region and overall Eurasian supply chains. Some truck drivers participating in CPMM reported seeking cover when crossing Ukraine soon after the invasion began. The war resulted in a sudden surge of CPMM transport times as congestion developed at BCPs on corridors used as alternatives to the Northern Route through the Russian Federation, Belarus, and Ukraine. Transport rates rose on the Northern Route due to the elevated costs and uncertainties related to international sanctions, insurance, and the security of drivers.
This report contains the results of a detailed analysis conducted on the effects this war has had on the seaports in Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Kazakhstan that function as important nodes along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), also known as the Middle Corridor[1]. The results, elaborated in a Chapter 4 case study, showed that the long lead times for freight crossing the Caspian on the TITR were in the main not due to issues at the ports themselves, but instead to lengthy waits for the limited number of vessels available to move cargo across the sea.
[1] The “Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR)” is often used interchangeably with the term “Middle Corridor”. CPMM does not discriminate them and both terms are hence used in this report.