China Aims at Canal Trade Route From Greece To Europe

• China is considering building a canal trade route from Greece to Europe via the Balkans to speed up shipments of goods.
• 7;s $ 3 trillion Belt and Road Initiative to fill the infrastructure gap along trade routes to Africa, Asia and Europe.

A News Beezer news source states that  China’s extravagant plan for the canal trade route from Greece to Europe.

An ambitious project

The plan that China is considering is a vertical link between the Danube, the second longest river in Europe, and the northern Aegean coast of Greece, namely the port of Thessaloniki.

The navigable route leads over the rivers Morava and Vardar / Axios and thus reaches Central Europe without circumnavigating the Mediterranean.

It is planned to widen the rivers in certain parts so that the large freighters can pass.

The potential project would radically change transport options in the wider region of Europe.

The plan to build a canal trade route across the Balkans to Central Europe, however, requires bilateral agreements with all countries involved.

Specifically, China has to agree with Greece, Serbia, North Macedonia and Central European countries.

The advantages

If China’s canal trade route does actually come about, the countries of the Balkans and Central Europe would get the goods cheaper and faster, while shipping exports would also cost less.

At the same time, the Balkan countries could deliver local products to western EU markets more easily, faster and cheaper.

The development of what China is calling the “New Silk Road” – land, air and sea – is already under way and the use of existing rivers must not be left out of the overall plan.

The waterway would provide a much faster and cheaper route for cargo destined for Europe from the east.

The development of the new waterway would provide a transport link from the eastern Mediterranean directly into the heart of Europe via the Axios / Vardar, Morava and Danube rivers.

Freight would no longer have to be shipped to Gibraltar and from there to the Netherlands or stopped in the narrow Bosporus.

Some early studies have shown that such a route would be three and a half days faster compared to the existing option via Rotterdam.

The cargo from the Dutch port reaches the Danube, running horizontally, from Central Europe in southwest Germany to the Black Sea, at a point on the east coast of Romania.

This is an attractive prospect for China and other East Asian countries, which export millions of containers to European markets and Russia every year.

Some waterways in Greece, Serbia and North Macedonia need to be widened and deepened.

A cargo ship must be at least 4 meters deep and 28 meters wide to pass through the river canals.

Over the Bosphorus or Thessaloniki?

Ships from China to Europe are currently docking in the port of Piraeus or the Italian port of Trieste. From there, goods are transported to Europe by truck, train or plane.

However, transporting goods to Central and Northern Europe in this way is costly and it takes a long time for the cargo to reach its destination.

So there are two options for China’s canal trade route: cargo ships entering the Danube from the Bosporus or Thessaloniki.

The first option is for ships from Asia to enter the Black Sea through the Dardanelles Strait and into Europe from the mouth of the Danube into the sea.

From there, freighters can cross the Danube to reach major European ports such as Budapest, Vienna and Amsterdam.

On the Bosporus route, a ship would have to travel 1,900 km (1,180 miles) to reach Belgrade.

However, when ships call at the port of Thessaloniki and are linked to the Danube by the Axios Vardar River, they have to travel 1000 km (621 miles) to reach Belgrade.

There is a third option, but it is almost unrealistic: Freighters from Asia can dock with the Danube via Venice, but an 88 km long canal would have to be built for this.

At a speed of 10 km / h, cargo ships from China need eight days to reach their European destination. With the canals, it would take a little over four hours.

China’s canal trade route through Europe is not only much cheaper, but also more environmentally friendly.

The fuel costs for the number of trucks, trains and / or planes needed to move the goods across Europe will be significantly reduced, much less pollution.

An idea that is almost two centuries old

The idea of ​​connecting the Mediterranean to the Danube actually dates back to the 1840s.

In 1907 the United States set up an engineering commission to consider the possibility of building this project.

The Balkan Wars (1912-1913), the First and Second World Wars and the Cold War put the project on hold.

Today, access from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea is controlled by Turkey, and such a plan would have to go through the Ankara government.

Hence, Thessaloniki would be the ideal starting point for the Danube and the rest of the Chinese canal trade route.

Such a move would inevitably reduce Turkey’s geopolitical power in the Mediterranean while also giving Greece an advantage as an international shipping hub.

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Source: News Beezer

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