Sometime this morning, a freight train consisting of 82, 20-tonne containers of caustic soda will arrive by ferry at the Baku International Sea Trade Port in Alat to become the first container train to complete the new rail route from China to Azerbaijan via Kazakhstan. The train’s arrival marks the opening of a new trade route which will see the journey time from the Chinese city of Shihezi to Kishly reduced to six days. It is estimated that traffic along the route could increase to up to 300,000 containers by 2020.

“We are confident that all this will serve to develop and enhance the competitiveness of our economies and for the development of transit potential,” Temir Zholy President Askar Mamin told journalists waiting at the ferry terminal. “According to our preliminary estimates Azerbaijani Railways could be earning up to $700m a year in transit revenues alone.”