The New Silk Road The BRI Project - DEKRA Claims and Expertise
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The New Silk Road
The BRI Project
DEKRA Claims and Expertise B.V.
Maup Hoppzak
Huib Ort
Laurens Leppers
Table of contents
1 Preface 3
2 Introduction 4
3 History of the Overland Silk Road 9
4 History of the Maritime Silk Road 12
5 The Six Corridors 15
6 The new Overland Silk Roads 16
7 The new Maritime Silk Roads 20
8 Financing of the BRI-project 25
9 Comparison of the various modalities 27
10 The risks 28
11 The position of the European Union with regard to the BRI-project 31
12 The advantages for the Netherlands 35
13 What are the critics afraid of? 36
14 Recent developments that may have a consequence on the BRI-project 38
15 Liability aspects of synchromodal transport 43
16 Concluding remarks 45
17 References used 46
© 2019 – DEKRA Experts and ASA Legal Assist, both branches of DEKRA Claims and Expertise B.V.
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and
retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.
This book is written in due care. The correctness of the content is partly due to information received from third parties. In case this information is not correct DEKRA Experts, ASA Legal Assist,
DEKRA Claims and Expertise B.V. and the authors cannot accept liability for this.
www.DEKRA.nl
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1 Preface
We have all grown up knowing off the term Silk Road. A term which makes us think of Marco Polo, rough
trade voyages and adventures. The last few years the term “New Silk Road” has made an appearance, and
because we think it is an important development for the insurance branch, we have done some research on
this subject. This resulted in a duo-presentation on October 16th, 2017, held in the “VNAB Kenniscentrum”
in Rotterdam. And following that presentation, we have decided to share our intel and knowledge with our
business connections in the transport world, a branch in which we as experts work with pleasure and deal
with the occasional hectic situations. We did this in the form of a booklet.
The information used to write this booklet, has been collected up until mid-October 2018. For a long
period of time, the amount of information about the BRI project given by the Dutch media was scarce. An
exception to this was for instance the article “De Nieuwe Zijderoute is een veelvraat” in the daily newspaper
AD on Saturday October 13th, 2018. Due to the scarcity of information on the subject, we hope you
appreciate our initiative to share this recently obtained knowledge with you.
November 2018
Maup Hoppzak, senior h&m surveyor, consultant and arbitrator
Huib Ort, senior cargo surveyor and Manager Marine
DEKRA Experts
Laurens Leppers, lawyer
ASA Legal Assist
DEKRA Claims and Expertise B.V.
Business Unit Marine
P.O. Box 85107
NL-3009 MC Rotterdam
+31 10 2077260
marine.experts.nl@dekra.com
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2 Introduction In the year 221 BC the country became an empire ruled by the
emperor Qin Sui Huang. He built the famous mausoleum that
was discovered in 1974 by three farmers and which was listed
China is a country with a rich history. Its first documentations on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site in 1987. This
started 7,000 years ago. mausoleum holds approx. 8.000 live-size terracotta sculptures of
warriors, horses, chariots and weapons.
Before this period, between 1,700 and 1,300 BC, the art of
writing was invented and around 2,000 BC the art of moulding
of bronze.
In 605 AD the Emperors channel was built in order to connect
the Capital Lyoyang with the Yangtsekiang river. A channel still
in use to this day.
In the period of 475 BC/1644 AD the famous Chinese Wall,
length approx. 6,000 kilometres was built.
In 1912 the last Emperor Xuantong, resigned at the age of six
years and after a period of over 2,000 years, the Republic China
was declared, with Sun Yat-sen as its president.
In 1921 the Chinese Communist Party was established. In
1925 a civil war between this party and the Nationalist Party
started. This was the start of a bloody battle. Mao Zedong (1893
– 1976) became popular as the communist leader during the
“Long Communist March” in 1934/1935. A march of over 9,600
kilometers in length, often through inhospitable terrain. Approx
86,000 communists started the march and only about 7,000 of
them finished. Amongst them was a large number of people
who were, later in 1949, rewarded with high ranking positions
(amongst others Deng Xiaoping).
In 1946, after the Japanese invasion (1937-1945), the civil war
started again. In 1949 the Red Army of Mao Zedong defeated
the Nationalist Army of Chiang Kai-shek in the city of Nanjing
and on October 1st, 1949, Mao Zedong declared the People’s
Republic of China.
A land-reforming campaign started immediately after in which
poor farmers were given the land of rich owners, whom were
branded as the “enemies of the people”.
These two small sculptures prove that China’s culture, a long The collectivism of the agriculture was a total disaster and
time before our Christian era, was much richer than the around 20 million Chinese citizens died, mainly due to famine.
European culture. Furthermore, many farm-landowners were executed.
The first sculpture is the Venus of Willendorf, one of the In 1957 Mao introduced a new campaign: “The Great Leap
highlights of the Natural History Museum of Vienna (Austria). Forward”.
In Europe, approx. 60 Venus sculptures were found. All of them This caused a complete deterioration of the society. As a result,
were rough and with big breasts, but lacked expression, feet, the Soviet Union stopped their aid to China in 1960.
hands and often they would not have arms. The famous Cultural Revolution(1966-1976), based on the
The sculptures, made out of lime sandstone or mammoth ivory, notorious “small Red Book” written by Mao, started in 1966 as
are between 20,000 and 2,000 years old and no male figures millions of Red Books were printed and distributed. This was
were found. happening while Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997) started to become
more and more important. China had still been completely cut
The second sculpture is exhibited in the Shanghai Museum in off from the rest of the world at this point and Deng Xiaoping
Shanghai (China). It is the oldest male sculpture ever to be found. was a big believer of strong relationships with other countries
It dates back to the Longshan Culture and is approx. 2,600 years like the former Soviet Union, the USA and other possible
old. The material used, is jade and the sculpture is finished very important trade partners.
nicely, with facial expressions, arms, hands, feet etc.
He summarized his reforms in the quote: “It is not important
History and culture have played an important role in the New that the cat is white or black, as long as it catches mice”, by which
Silkroad project and are mentioned by the Chinese president Xi he meant: the political system itself is not that important, what
Jinping in almost all his speeches. matters is that it results in the desired effects.
4
In 2001, China became a member of the World Trade
Organization (WTO) and since December 1st, 2015, the Chinese
Yuan is part of the SDR (Special Drawing Right), see paragraph 8.
From 1992 the yearly growth of the Chinese Gross Domestic
Product has been at an average of 10%, although this started to
decrease in 2012 to a grow of around 5 to 7%.
The “Open Door Politic” of Deng Xiaoping has clearly been
successfully for China as recorded in the following table showing
the growth of the share of China in the world import and export.
Year Import Export
2000 3% 4%
2004 6% 6%
2008 6,5% 8,5%
Deng Xiaoping 2012 9,5% 11%
2014 10% 12%
In Time May 1997, the question was asked
“The next China Will Deng’s heirs turn Beijing
into a superpower the world can love?” In 2017 the share of China in the world export was 12.8%, by
which China became number one in the world ranking. Their
share in the world import was 10.2%, earning them a second
Deng Xiaoping took power in 1977. This happened after the death place in the world ranking.
of Mao in 1976 and the arrest of the famous “Gang of Four” that
occurred that year as well. The “Gang of Four” was a group of The Chinese presidents Jiang Zemin (period 1993 – 2003) and
followers of the Cultural Revolution, including Mao’s widow Jiang Hu Jintao have continued Deng’s inheritance.
Qing. Two members of the gang were sentenced to life in prison On March 14th 2013, Xi Jinping (born 1953) was chosen to be
and the other two got a very long time in jail. the ninth president after Mao Zedong and as a result of that, he
It is assumed that the new Chinese leaders intervened just in time became the tenth president of the People’s Republic of China.
as certain findings suggest that the “Gang of Four” was planning
a coup in the near future. They received help from the People’s
Militia of Shanghai, leaded by Wang Dongxing. Who in the end
turned out to become an important member of the Communist
Party.
Deng Xiaoping immediately introduced the so called “Open Door
Politic”, to promote trade with foreign countries.
This was the initiative that started the so called “New Silk Road”.
Party secretary general Hu Yaobang, became very popular as a
result of his support to the political reforms and freedom of press.
His death in 1989 resulted in the Tiananmen incident on June
4th, 1989. A peaceful protest of approx. one million students
and civilians on the largest square in the world, the “Square of
Heavenly Peace”(Tiananmen Square). The protest was put down
harshly by the army; the square was cleared with the aid of tanks,
resulting in approx. 2.000 (or more) deceased.
This happened after a first protest led by students on April 17th,
1989 turned into a bloody massacre, resulting in 1,500 to 3,000
deceased.
In 1990, the Chinese government started to partly privatize and/
or upgrade the efficiency of various state-owned companies. And Xi Jinping
after 40 years, the Shanghai Stock Exchange was re-opened in
1990.
In 2013 he announced that China had the intention to re-use the
In 1992, Deng Xiaoping declared the necessity of an acceleration old Silk Road, for a project to be named:
of the economic developments (“Slow growth is not socialism”).
Fast growth more or less meant a reform to a veiled capitalism. In
July 1997 the former British colony Hong Kong was handed over “One Belt, One Road” (OBOR)
to China and in December 1999 Portugal handed over Macao.
5
He introduced the OBOR project as an ambition to build strong D - Geostrategic expansion, by improving relationship with
relations with neighboring countries. According to him the former Soviet Republics and other East European countries,
project consisted of two parts: including various Islamitic countries.
- The economic Silk Road; E - Solving the need for energy; China is the world’s largest
- The twenty first century maritime Silk Road. consumer and the biggest importer of energy. China and
Russia have already constructed various pipelines for this
purpose.
The Belt and Road Initiative creates a global infrastructure network
China uses, acquires and builds railroads, ports and pipelines
Akureyri
Arkhangelsk
The BRI-project is the most important state project and is being
controlled by:
Klaipéda
Rotterdam
Antwerp
London
- NDRC (National Development and Reform Commission)
Dunkirk
Le Havre
Montoir-de-Bretagne Ulan B
Venice Yuzhne Planned /
Bilbao
Vado
Existing under construction
Marseille Ambarli Vladivostok
Rason Railroads
Chongjin
Valencia
Piraeus
Cherchell Oil pipeline
Tanger Busan
Malta
- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Casablanca Ashdod yungang
Baghdad Gas pipeline
Suez
Gwadar
Port
Dhaka Quanzhou
Karachi Guangzhou
Abu Dhabi Calcutta Payra Beihai Zhanjian
Sittwe Haikou Silk Road Economic Belt
Nouakchott Kyaukphyu ntiane
Ndiago Massawa
Dak Maritime Silk Road
- The Ministry of Trade
Djibouti Aden
ko Laem Chabang
A
Conakry
Sihanoukville
Lagos
Colombo Economic Corridor
Hambantota
Abijan Malé
Lomé K Kuantan
Aboadze Tema Kribi
Malacca AIIB member states
Singapore
São Tomé
Libreville Lamu
Bujumbur Mombasa
Bagamoyo Jak
Dar es Salam
Overarching control is done by the State-Council, the most
Mtwara Darwin
Beira
important Chinese administrative body.
Walvis Bay
Maputo
Newcastle
© merics, May 2018
Melbourne
The project did not appear to come out of the blue. During a
meeting in 2011, the Chinese minister Wen Jiabo had mentioned
that China had already been investigating OBOR projects in
2010. This meeting was with the Central and East European
Countries (CEE Countries), made out of former communist
states in Europe such as Poland, the Baltic States, Hungary,
Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Albania, etc. Ukraine and Russia are
both not permanent member states, but are regularly present at
the meetings.
In our opinion, based on the size of various projects, the OBOR
idea must have been worked on in China way before 2010.
The more or less failed BRI projects: Shanmei oil refinery
project in Kyrgyzstan (2009) and the Kunming-Kyaukpu oil and
gas piping project in Myanmar (2010), conform our suspicion. Contribution to global growth.
Both the name New Silk Road and “One Belt, One Road” are The next table compares the economic growth of China, with
wrong. the economic growth of the world, the USA and the EU:
There are six corridors (belts) and at least six roads.
Also the old Silk Road was not one road, but a number of Growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in %.
different roads. World China USA EU
2013 3.5 7.8 1.7 -0.3
China realized that the name OBOR did not cover the cargo and 2014 3.6 7.3 1.6 1.6
changed the name to BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) in 2016. 2015 3.5 6.9 2.9 2.2
2016 3.2 6.7 1.5 1.9
The BRI project is the official Chinese politics that pursues five 2017 3.8 6.8 2.3 2.8
targets: 2018 3.9 6.6 4.2 2.2
(till Q3))
A - Economic expansion, for the Chinese inland as well.
B - Financial expansion and recognition of the Yuan as an The most important causes for the GDP growth in China are:
international important currency, like the USD, GBP, Euro
and Japanese Yen. - large scaled investments
- Rapid grow of productivity
C - Technological expansion, by development of new techniques,
innovations and standardization.
6
Xi Jinping knows his classics. In the famous book “The Art of The BRI-project is the most ambitious and expensive project
War” written in the sixth century BC by the Chinese general ever.
Sun Tzu it is mentioned: China invests 150 billion US Dollar each year and strives to
complete the project in 2049 (the centenary of the People’s
“Everybody can notice the tactic of my victory, but nobody can Republic of China).
notice the strategy behind this tactic”.
The question is: Will this project, in which 65 states are
involved, many of them political instable and 2/3 of them with
enormous state debts, succeed and how much time will they
actually need to complete the project?
Is this really the economical reformation the traditional big
players (the USA and Russia) have been waiting for? One of Sir
Winston Churchill’s famous quotes was: “the price of greatness is
responsibility”.
We cannot answer these questions.
But we can give you as much background information
as possible, which makes it easier for you to follow the
developments the upcoming few years.
One thing is clear. The world is going through a time of
transformation and turbulence, now more than ever. This is
caused by the following five factors:
- Climate change.
Xi Jinping - Chinese President - Population growth.
- Shortage of raw materials.
“The Belt and Road and the AIIB are both open initiatives. We welcome
- Rapid development of information technology.
all countries along the routes and in Asia, as well as our friends and
partners around the world, to take an active part in the endeavors”
“Information technology is a queer thing. It brings you great
gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the
other” C.P. Snow – New York Times – 15.03.1971)
See chapter 8 for an explanation regarding AIIB. - Power shift from West to East.
In the following paragraphs we will deal with the following In China there are 1.4 billion consumers, just a little bit more
subjects: than in India but over four times as much as in the USA.
At this moment a rapidly growing middle class is emerging in
- The history of the Overland Silk Road and the Maritime Silk China. Right now, seven of the ten largest ports are situated in
Road. China (this figure is based on total transshipment, containers,
ore, oil products , etc.). Rotterdam, Singapore and Port Hedland
- The six corridors. are the only ports still maintaining a spot in the top ten.
- The new routes. It is clear that the current developments are of great importance
for both China and the rest of the world and that Xi Jinping
- The BRI project, infrastructure projects. has perfectly understood the importance of the quote of the
Buddhist philosopher Lao-Tse: “a 1,000 miles journey starts with
- The financing of the BRI-project. the first step”.
- The risks. Taoism, developed in the fourth century BC by Lao-Tse, has an
important role in the Chinese culture.
- The EU point of view.
- The advantages for the Netherlands.
- The fear of the critics.
- The various developments that may have consequences to the
project.
- A juridical consideration with regard to synchromodal
transport.
7
China – country and population Remarks:
Land area 9,563,000 km² 1. After Russia (17,098,000 km²), Canada (9,985,000 km²) and
Sea area 4,730,000 km² the USA (9,832,000 km²) China is the fourth largest country
in the world, land and area wise. India is the seventh country
Mainland coastline 18,000 km with a total land area of 3,287,000 km².
Islands coastline 14,000 km
Number of islands 5,400 2. China has the largest population of the world. India, with a
population of 1.324 billion is second on this list. The third
Population (2017) 1,403 billion place is for the USA with 0.322 billion.
Life expectancy men (2017) 75 years
Life expectancy women (2017) 78.1 years It is to be expected that in 2030 India will have the largest
population (1.510 billion) in the world, pushing China to
Time Zone GMT + 8 hours second place (1.441 billion).
(summertime +9 hours) The number of population in the largest country in the
world, Russia, was 0.144 billion in 2017. This made them
ninth on the list of largest populations in the world.
8
3 The History of the Overland Silk Road
The name Silk Road has been thought of more recent than many The overland Silk Road was not just one route but was roughly
might think. The German geographer and explorer Ferdinand made up out of three different routes.
von Richthofen came up with the name in 1877. He could have - The eastern route from Changan to the Pamir mountains
easily named the route the Tea Road, Porcelain Road, Incense (Tajikistan)
Road, Musk Road or the Satin Road, as those products were
also prominent in the trade on that route. But von Ferdinand - The central Asia route through the Pamir mountains to
Richthofen went with the name Silk Road. Samarkand (Uzbekistan).
- The western route through Persia to the Mediterranean Sea.
Important trading centers were Bactria and Samarkand. Both
centers had congested shops, where the Chinese tradesman
exchanged products with local tradesman.
Often, there would be trades along the routes, making it
common for the entire route to not always be travelled by the
same convoy.
The overland Silk Road, with its convoys of camels, sparked a
booming trade and cultural exchange between East and West.
From Changan (the current Xian) in China to Constantinople
(the current Istanbul) in Turkey.
There were various products coming from China. Besides the
silk, there was also a huge trade in porcelain, tea, incense, musk,
Ferdinand von Richthofen satin etc. They were traded in trading centers along the route for
medicine, jade and Roman gold.
The cultural exchange was also a very important aspect of the
Although not all historians agree, it is believed that the overland Silk Road.
Silk Road originates from the year 138 before Christ. In that Buddhism found its way to China in the first century and had a
time, during the Han Dynasty, emperor Wudi sent out a mission huge influence on religion, art and philosophy.
to the current Tajikistan, under command of Zuang Qian. The The Chinese Buddhism, different to the traditional Buddhism,
goal of the mission was to build economic relations, but it ended started to develop and became very important in the Chinese
in the imprisonment of the expedition members. After 13 years, culture. This was way before Christianity and the Islam were
Zuang Qian managed to escape. In 115 before Christ, Zuang first introduced in China through the Silk Road in the seventh
Qian went on a new mission, heading for the western region this century.
time. After reaching South-East Uzbekistan, he sent out several
men to countries like Afghanistan, Iran and India. This was the
beginning of the overland trade between China and Persia.
The Silk Road
9Both in Buddhism and the Islam, the doctrine of the famous In 1291, he sailed a fleet of Chinese junks over the South China
Chinese philosopher Confusius (551-479 before Christ) was Sea to Kanton and thereafter via Sumatra, Java and Ceylon
significantly present. through to Hormoz (Iran). He went ashore in Hormoz and
continued his travels via Constantinople in 1295 back to Venice
(24 years after he left Venice).
Voyages of Marco Polo
Confusius
During the Venice and Genoa war, Marco Polo got captured. He
was a prisoner of war from September 1298 until July 1299.
The most important elements in the doctrine of Confusius were:
- The recovery of traditional norms and values as a cure for
the social and political chaos in the time Confusius was alive
- Honest care for others
- Social and political loyalty and loyalty to your family
- Courage and trustworthiness
- The compliance of various traditional norms and values
- Responsibility for the social position of others (family,
officials, etc.)
These themes are written down in the Loen-Ju, his profound
testament.
A very important development in the history of the overland
Silk Road, is the voyage of Marco Polo (1254-1324). Marco Polo Marco Polo in jail
was a tradesman and explorer from Venice, and he was the first
ever European to write about and map the Far East.
In 1271 he left for Chambalig (Peking) through Bagdad as an In his cell he met Rustichello of Pisa. Rustichello was writing
official envoy of Pope Gregorius X. He reached Chambalig after novels of chivalry about King Arthur. Together they wrote the
four years and was introduced at the court of Buklai Khan, this famous book “Il Milione”, translated to English as “The Travels
resulted in Khan admitting him to his following. of Marco Polo”. This book contained the unique intel Marco
Kublai Khan provided Marco Polo with several assignments for Polo had been gathering while in service of Kublai Khan and
missions both in and outside of China. the book had a huge influence on the Mediterranean world and
In the 17 years Marco Polo was working for Kublai Khan, he geographical knowledge at that time.
gathered both geographical knowledge and intel on the morals
and customs in the various regions he visited (Tibet, Burma,
Cochin, Nanking, Central China, etc.).
10There has been some doubt about the credibility of the book,
for instance by Frances Wood in her book “Did Marco Polo go
to China?” (1995), but according to most historians, the volume
of correct and verifiable information is proof that the book is
indeed unique and truthful.
The overland Silk Road came to its end due to several causes:
- In 522 two monks smuggled silkworms in hollow canes to
the West, slowly starting the rise of silk manufacturing in
the western world
- The end of the Mongolian Empire in the thirteenth century
made the trading routes unsafe due to an increasing number
of robbers.
Il Milione - In the fourteenth century the immensely rapid spread
of the plague through the Silk Road scared numerous of
tradesman.
The knowledge in this book, especially the intel on the various - During the fifteenth century, the overland Silk Road was
trading routes and various coasts (Marco Polo was the first ever overshadowed by the way more intensive maritime traffic,
to write about Japan), became a welcome source for explores in which the V.O.C. (Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie)
like Vasco da Gama and Christoffel Columbus and was even the played an important role. Between 1602 and 1682, 16
foundation for part of the famous Da Mauro world map which million porcelain pieces were shipped from China to the
was published in 1459. Netherlands. This worked out to be about 200,000 a year.
The Silk Road turned into the Porcelain Road after all.
The original manuscript of “Il Milione” has been lost and there
are about 150 different handwritten copies all with different
content due to writers leaving things out or making things up
themselves.
Gangs of robbers
114 The history of the Maritime Silk Road The Chinese diplomat, adventurer, East-West trade networker
and explorer Zheng He (Cheng Ho) made seven big voyages
from China to South India and East Africa in the period of 1405
Just like the overland Silk Road, the maritime Silk Road did - 1433, he visited over thirty countries on these expeditions.
not just focus on trade, but also on the exchange of culture and He had been a Muslim eunuch ever since he was ten and even
religion. became the confidential eunuch of the emperor Yongle when
The maritime history of China started in the period of 221 - 111 he was fourteen. Zheng He also oversaw the building of the
before Christ when they founded trading posts in the south- forbidden city in Beijing for the emperor.
easterly kingdoms. These posts were reached by traditional He was an impressive individual with his two meters height and
Chinese junks. weight of a hundred kilogram.
In the third century, Zhu Ying and Kan Tai started the East-
West route when they first sailed to South-East Asia. This voyage From 1405 to 1411 he went on three voyages in South- and
is seen as the start of the maritime Silk Road. South-East Asia, including the Persian Gulf, and he reached
Calcutta in India.
The Arabian and Persian sailing vessels acquired an important
part in the West-East route in the seventh century. During his fourth trip in 1413, his fleet reached the Arabic cities
In 1284, Kublai Khan enacted the “Official Ship Policy”, with the Aden and Mecca. He also reached Egypt and discovered the
intention to increase trade by the State. African East Coast (Somalia and Kenya) all the way through to
The State funded the ships and in return received 70% of the the coast of Mozambique.
profit made by the tradesman. This made the shipping industry During his fifth expedition from 1417 to 1419, he mapped the
a state monopoly. entire of the African East Coast.
In 1320 they abolished this system and from 1323 private trade The goals of his sixth (1421-1423) and seventh (1431-1433)
by sea flourished. This ended in 1435, when the trade was expeditions were to map the world. The fleet got split up in
forbidden. four squadrons, which all had the task to execute a part of this
assignment.
The extent and the duration of the expeditions of Zheng He
arranged by the state (1371-1433), were unheard of in that time, Zheng He had a fleet of 208 ships with a crew of 28,640 people,
and they went on until the death of Zheng He in 1433. consisting of astrologists, cartographers, military, doctors, chefs,
carpenters, etc. His flagship was, tonnage wise, ten times as
These expeditions had a long-term impact on the cultural big as the De Santa Maria, the ship Columbus used to discover
relations between East and West. They formed the base of the America in 1492 with his crew of 150.
improved maritime Silk Road and even of current the BRI-
project as expressed in the following quote in the magazine
‘Geschiedenis Magazine’, which translates to History Magazine,
by Gijsbrecht Oonk written in May 2016:
“The current political and economic rise of China has stimulated
a renewed interest in the story of Zheng He.”
Ships Zheng He and Columbus
Zheng He had no maritime background, but managed to cover
a total distance of around 200,000 kilometers. He established
an advanced marine base in Malesia.
Zheng He’s fleet was made out of six types of ships
- The flagship with nine masts, each with nine sails and a
Routes of Zheng He length of more than 100 meters.
- Fast supply vessels.
12- Grain vessels with seven masts, each vessel 92 meters long and
39.6 meters wide, used for storage of provisions, horses, etc.
- Water-storage vesels, with the exact same measurements
as the grain ships, meant for the storage of fresh drinking
water. This is the first time in history that water tankers were
built.
- Battleships, 90 x 31 meters with six masts. These vessels
were used for the transportation of military staff. They also
functioned as the command center during a time of crisis
and were equipped to act as a military base when on the
mainland.
- Warships with five masts, 59 x 22.3 meters. They were built
Fra Mauro map of the world
to be very light and were therefore extremely fast. The ships
were provided with advanced weapons like iron cannons
and bullets, gunpowder, burning darts, explosives, stabbing After Zheng He’s death in 1433, the fleet was put to rest. This is
and striking weapons, etc. These ships were to protect the mainly due to the fact that, despite the products that the fleet
fleet if needed. imported to China (ivory, spices, exotic wood, creams, and even
giraffes, zebra’s and ostriches), the expeditions were heavily loss
making and they were a big strain on the treasure chest.
In 1435, the new emperor Xuande forbad foreign trade by sea
and ordered the destruction of the entire fleet. The ban on the
trade went on until the second half of the sixteenth century,
but it did not stop the trade completely, it just made it more
dangerous.
From the moment the ban was lifted, up until the start of the
nineteenth century, China became yet again an important
trading power when it came to the trade with Indonesia, India
and Afrika.
The influence of Zheng He on the world trade was very big. This
was partially thanks to his personality and diplomacy.
Zheng He’s goal, which Xi Jinping has frequently identified to
be one of the pillars of the current BRI-project, was worldwide
Navigational methods Zheng He
collaboration, based on:
The navigational methods used were: A - No interventions and no colonization; instead there should
be friendship and peaceful coexistence, like good neighbors
- Maps of already known and mapped areas should strive for.
- Nautical compendia written by Zheng He’s predecessors. B - Free world trade to compliment local trade.
- Hourglasses. C - Cultural exchange; living in harmony and peace and the
stimulation of humanism.
- A Chinese compass, invented between 300/200 before The humanism in China was based on the doctrine of
Christ. Confusius, which was very important in the fifteenth
century (organization and righteousness).
- Kamal, a navigation method based on studying stars which
was invented in the ninth century in Arabia. It allows you to D - Equality of partnership between states; with the purpose of
estimate the geographical latitude. enabling a harmonious world.
On the Fra Mauro world map of 1459, mentioned earlier in E - Exchange of religions; Buddhism from China and Islam
chapter three, a ship was displayed just south of Africa. It is from the Middle East. The Islam rose considerably late in
believed that this ship is meant to be one of the Chinese junks China, long after the expeditions of Zheng He.
from Zheng He’s fleet.
Some theories say that even Amerika (70 years before
Columbus), the Antarctic and Australia were discovered during
these voyages, but there is no solid proof to support these
theories.
13Voyage of Vasco da Gama
After the destruction of the fleet in 1435, 500 years of European
hegemony started. The Europeans had completely different
goals than Zheng He. One of the first explorers that sailed from
Portugal to India via the Cape of Good Hope (the West-East
route) was Vasco da Gama (1469-1524). He delivered the famous
words on his departure on the 8th of July 1497:
“May God assist us to complete this voyage”
The time of peaceful, humanistic expeditions was over. This
was shown by Vasco da Gama when he raided an unarmed ship
(a so-called dhow) named Miri in 1502. The ship carried 380
pilgrims and was on its way back from Mecca. After raiding
the ship, Vasco da Gama set fire to the ship and let it go down
with the pilgrims still aboard. Even in that day of age, this was a
ruthless act of piracy. Vasco da Gama
145 The six corridors
China has identified six corridors for the BRI-project:
A - The China, Mongolia, Russia corridor. D - The China – Pakistan corridor.
The trade between these three countries has been very This corridor is based on the construction of 3,000
strong for a long time. kilometers of railway from Kashgar in China (North) to
The possibility to establish a common company for a Gwadar Port in Pakistan (South).
rail link (High Speed Rail) is being investigated. (2,100 Right now, this is China’s biggest investment project, with a
kilometers of electrical railway of which 1,100 would lay in total time span of 10 to 12 years.
Mongolia).
E - The Bangladesh – China – India – Myanmar corridor.
B - The New Euro-Asia continental corridor. These four countries have started a study-work group
In this corridor from Kazakhstan and Poland, various together, but so far no concrete projects have been formed.
already existing railways from China to West-Europa lay
and several new railways will be constructed.
F - The China – Indonesian Peninsula corridor.
This concerns six countries (Cambodia, China, Laos,
C - The China – Central Asia – West Asia corridor. Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam). The first projects have
This corridor would start in Xinjiang in China and would been finished already.
go through the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean Sea and
the Arabic Peninsula to the five Central Asian countries There is a clear difference between the corridors (Belts) and the
(Kazakhstan, Kirgizia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and routes (Roads) as some corridors are reached by railway, others
Turkmenistan) and to Iran and Turkey in West Asia. by ship and some are even multimodal (by railway and ship).
156 The new Overland Silk Roads In 2007, the project carried 237,000 passengers per day. In
2014 this has grown with a solid 10% per year to 2.9 million
The BRI project is not just based on railways and maritime passengers a day.
shipments, but on different infrastructure projects as well,
such as airports, telephone networks, roads, oil and gas piping From the records of this study, the Chinese HSR railway system
networks, electricity, I.T., healthcare and other social projects appears to be the most efficient system in the world. The costs
(schools, housing, potable water, etc.). are 1/3 to 2/3 of the costs of similar projects in other countries.
We have however, chosen to just focus on the railway and Reasons for this are:
maritime routes in our research.
- standardization of the design of various construction
Right now, there are 4 known routes: elements.
- development of innovative and competitive capacity for the
A - China – Europe via Central Asia and Russia (the North construction of equipment.
route).
After the fusion of CSR (China South Rail) and CNR (China
B - China – Europe via Kazakhstan or Turkey (the Central- and North Rail) in CRRC (China Railway Construction Corp.
Southern route). Ltd.) in 2015, the construction of HSR materials and the
infrastructure itself became considerately more efficient and
C - China – Persian Gulf via Central Asia. therefore it became a big competition on the international scale.
CRRC has around 180,000 people working for them. Kenya
D - China – South East Asia and the Indian Ocean coast. (Nairobi – Mombassa railway, 485 km) and Thailand are also
working with the Chinese technology and the new Budapest
The strength of this part of the BRI project is the Chinese High- to Beograd (Hungary – Servia) railway will be built with the
Speed Rail (HSR). Chinese technology as well.
China started the development and the building of high-speed Russia is planning a fast development of the new high-speed
passenger trains in 2004. At that time the average speed on the cargo train system on the northern route, but it is not a top
Chinese railway was 48 km/hour. priority. It concerns a total of 7,000 kilometers of rail, of which
China started much later then her competitors: 770 kilometers (Moscow – Kazan) has been put out to tender
already.
- Japan 1964 Shinkansen Even though this route is the shortest distance between China
- France 1981 T.G.V. and Europa, a quick development is not expected.
- Germany 1991 ICE The central and southern route started in 2011 when the first
container train went from China to Europe (Congoing –
But, in less than ten years time, China developed an HSR Duisburg). They were followed by ten more trains that year.
passenger system with a length of 0 to 19,000 kilometers and
minimum train speed of 180 km/hour.
This resulted in enough experience to convert passenger trains In 2015 there were eight important routes from China to
into trains that can transport cargo as well. Europe:
By now they are even working on the development of trains with Year Route Duration Distance
speeds of 380 km/hr (CRH 380-A). (days) (km)
The current trains, 8 to 16 carriages, can reach speeds from 250 2011 Chongqing-Duisburg 15 11,179
to 350 km/hr. 2012 Wuhan-Prague 15 11,000
To build the trains and to put the new infrastructure in, China 2013/4 Chengdu-Lodz 14 9,826
has collaborated with various international partners: 2013/7 Zhengzhou-Hamburg 15 10,214
2013/9 Suzhou-Warsaw 15 11,200
- Bombardier (Canada) 2014/12 Yiwu-Madrid 18 13,053
- Alstom (France) 2015 Changsha-Duisburg 13 11,808
- Siemens (Germany) 2015 Hefei-Poland 18 9,820
- Kwasaki Heavy Industries (Japan)
According to the study “China Transport Topics no. 8 – January
2013” by the World Bank, the HSR has had a big contribution to
the regional and industrial growth.
The Chinese HSR network currently makes up 55% of the
worldwide network and covers almost all of the 33 regions in
China.
16It is expected that Tilburg will become an important
intersection for transport to and from Belgium, France and
Spain. The same goes for Rotterdam, where the Overland and
Maritime Silk Road come together.
In April 2018, a new connection between Austria and China
(Vienna – Chengdu) was created. This passed the border
crossing in Kazakhstan, Khorgos – Atijnkol and it went
noticeably quicker than the border crossing in Poland.
One of the biggest players in the various railway projects is DB
Schenker, the company that received the yearly AFLAS Award
(Asian Freight, Logistic and Supply Chain) in Shanghai in 2018,
for the third time in a row.
Train Zhengzhou – Europe – Copyright Deutsche Bahn
Problems are:
- The limited return freight (west – east). This has become
In 2016 the Chengdu – Tilburg – Rotterdam Express started. less of a problem since a middle class has formed in China,
11,000 kilometers, 14 days via the southern route. It started wanting to buy products from the west. This middle class is
with about 250 trains a year travelling this route, but these growing and so is the goods flow to China (cars, car parts,
numbers rapidly increased. At that time, around 1.000 trains a medicine, dairy products, luxury products, vegetables, fruit,
year would make its way to Duisburg vice versa. By now, trains etc.).
go from Tilburg to Changsha v.v. via the Chinese border town
Manzhouli (traveltime 17 days) and from Tilburg to Chengdu - More and more construction materials, machinery and
v.v. via the border town Khorgos (Kazakhstan – China) its spare parts, and raw industrial materials like plastic,
(traveltime 14 days) very regularly. aluminum and lubrication oil are exported to China.
The logistics company GVT Group has built a Holland Pavilion
(1,500 m²) in Chengdu in China with 22 exposition rooms,
which was opened in November 2018. Dutch products are
from China
promoted in this pavilion. The goal is to increase the number of
transports from Tilburg to China.
In 2017 the first train from Yiwu arrived in London (12,000 to China
kilometers, 18 days).
On the 26th of April 2018, the first train to Antwerp left China. - The differences in the rail gauges, which creates the issue of
The plan is to have trains going travelling this route once or having to transship cargo two, or even three times when it
twice a month. The train arrived on the 12th of May 2018. has to go to/through Spain or Portugal.
The Dutch company ProRail and Baltic Rail and join Rail gauges:
forces to stimulate transport of cargo. They want to reach a - China and Europe 1,435 mm
maximum travelling time of 22 hours for cargo trains from the - CIS countries, (former Sovietcountries) 1,520 mm
Netherlands to the Baltic ports (1,800 km). - Spain and Portugal 1,668 mm
Various other new developments are happening as well: - The lack of infrastructure.
- Italy to China v.v. via Turkey
- Spain to China v.v. (Sinkiang Region); total of 24 days - Delays at the border crossing due to for instance;
- Finland (Helsinki) to China v.v. via Russia and Kazakhstan administration, the language barrier, shunt problems
(shunting of locomotives which are a possession of the
Due to several technical improvements, electronic documents, owner of the carriages). Furthermore, the border security
etc., the crossing of the Chinese and Kazakhstani border has stop in Poland (Malaszewicze) is 900 meters long, which
become a lot faster. causes the need to split up trains of 1,200 meters.
According to China Railway the total number of trains was: In August 2018, the Polish P.K.P. Cargo send word out that
the problems at Malaszewicze had been fixed and that it
- in 2011 17 could handle 40% more capacity. This was contradicted by
- in 2016 1702 several transporters, claiming that the hold at the border
- in 2017 3673 was still often between four to six days. The P.K.P. says the
capacity will be quadrupled in 2020.
For these results, 27 cities in China and 29 cities in Europe were
the start and finish points.
17The current overland transport from China to Europe is less Right now, there are three propositions that are being
than one percent of the total transport, but according to China investigated which would connect Kunning (South West China)
it has to grow up to 5% in 2020. To try and reach this goal, with Singapore:
the Chinese local authorities have started sponsoring the rail
transport. - East route via Vietnam;
- Central route via Laos;
The subsidies differ in the various regions and are estimated to - West route via Myanmar (this route of 690 kilometers was
be between USD 1,000 and USD 2,500 per TEU (Twenty Foot already under construction, but Myanmar pulled the plug
Equivalent Unit) resulting in approx. USD 100,000 per train on the project in 2011).
(20 to 60% of the total operational costs). As a result of the
present growth of the number of transports, it is to be expected The economic interest to build the other two routes are
that those subsidies will be reduced in the short term. significant enough.
The most used rail route is the China – Kazakhstan – Russia – A Chinese-Indonesian joint venture was established in Jakarta
Poland route, for which in Kazakhstan (Khorgos) and Poland on the 16th of October 2015, with the goal to build the Jakarta
(Malaszewicze) ultra-modern border terminals have been built. – Bandung HSR line (256 kilometers). This line connects the
cities with a commute of 40 minutes compared to the previous
3 hours.
This project mostly serves as a prestige project for China, to
show how fast and reasonably priced you can build a quality
HSR line.
This project definitely has advertising purposes for the Chinese
HSR export too, especially seeing as the difference in height is
600 meters over a length of 20 kilometers.
Indonesia has considered the Japanese proposal as well. But due
to the longer time of completion (one or two years), the Chinese
offer turned out to be cheaper in interest wise.
The project has been contracted by now and will cost Indonesia
USD 5.1 million and should be built in 2.5 to 3 years.
Khorgos terminal
By now, many Chinese companies have relocated from the coast
The China - Central Asia – West Asia route is economically to the inland. This is due to:
doubtful due to the difficult accessibility of the territory and
the low population density of the Central Asian countries - shorter transport time to Europe via rail;
Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. - cheaper labor.
The Ankara-Istanbul (530 kilometers) HSR railway line is the
most significant project in this route. For instance, Hewlett Packard. They moved from Shanghai to
Shongqing (approx. 1,500 km west of Shanghai), where each year
The China – Pakistan Railway (750 kilometers) is currently 20 million laptops and 15 million printers are made.
being built and two other projects are under investigation. These
two other projects would create direct connections, between By now, Djibouti and Addis Abeba in Ethiopia have been
China and Gwadar Port and China- Arabic Sea. connected by the Chinese HSR technique as well. The African
Unity Organization is supporting an equatorial African railway
The Indian rail project is one of the most successful Chinese to promote national and international trade and China has
HSR projects. already gotten involved.
Indian Rail currently has one of the largest rail networks in the
world. 115,000 kilometers of rail with over 23 million passengers Several Asian countries are included in the BRI-project and
a day and 1,060 million tons of cargo every year (2015). some are considerably resistant:
India and China have a public – private cooperation, in which
five HSR lines are being studied at the moment. - In Laos, 400 kilometres of railway will connect the Chinese
border with the capital city Vientiane. They started building
Due to the natural border between China and India, the the track in 2016 and it is estimated to be finished end 2021.
Himalaya mountains, a direct line between the two countries is The cost of the construction is paid by China for now and
impossible. paying them back is going to be very difficult.
Myanmar stopped their relations with China when it comes to - Sri Lanka has got a new international airport in Mattala,
railways, making a connection through Myanmar not possible this was funded by China. Due to a lack of passengers it is
either. nearly impossible to settle their debt to China, which in
return has resulted in China taking over the Sri Lankan port
of Hambantota.
18- Indonesia finished the HSR line Jakarta – Bandung but is of 53,85 kilometres, it lies 100 metres under the seabed and 240
struggling with the increasing Chinese influence in their metres under the sea level. The second longest is the Channel
country. This is even though Indonesia is the country most Tunnel, with a length of 50,5 kilometres, laying 37,9 metres
reoccurring in the BRI-projects. under the sea level. The Channel Tunnel took 7 years to be built
and was opened in 1994.
As mentioned before, they have also started BRI-projects in
Africa. On the 20th and 21st of July 2018, Xi Jinping visited The challenges of building the Bering Strait Tunnel, which
Senegal, where it turned out that the country wants to play an should take 15 years, are expected to be as follows:
active role in the BRI-project:
- The extreme length, resulting in very serious requirements
- A trans-African highway from Dakar to Djibouti. regarding fire-safety and ventilation.
- A railway from Dakar to Bamako. - The characteristics of the soil, which is dominated by
permafrost. This results in a permanently frozen bottom,
- A highway from Mali to Conakry. even at large depths. Good isolation of the tunnel and
possibly even the injection of a liquid nitrogen in the tunnel
- Dams in Guinea and Ivory Coast. construction might be necessary.
There are two more routes which are under consideration; - The variety in the characteristics of the soil, from soft
sandstone to hard granite, in combination with various
A - From China to the East-West coast of the USA. This would fracture lines, makes drilling difficult.
be by train, going through Siberia, Alaska and Canada and
it would save about 7 days of travelling time and the Panama - The construction will have to be adapted to regular
Canal passage costs (USD 350,000 per passage of a large earthquakes, mostly light, as a result of the clash of two
container vessel). earth plates (average twice a year with a minimum force 7
on Richter’s Scale).
- The lack of infrastructure on both sides, resulting in
construction of approx. 6,000 kilometres of new railway
- The difference in rail gauge on both sides (Siberia 1,520 mm/
Alaska 1,435 mm).
The total costs for the project are predicted to be ca. 100 billion
US Dollar. For comparison, the costs to construct the Channel
Tunnel were USD 15 billion.
Plans for a bridge or dam between Siberia and Alaska have been
investigated as well but were found to be infeasible.
Railway China – USA B - From China to Rotterdam by train, then on to the West
Coast of the USA by ship and thereafter by train to the East
coast of the USA. This too, will be a fair cost saver.
An important detail is that Siberia and Alaska are separated
by the Bering Strait, a sea strait of 85 kilometers wide and 50
meters deep. Back in 1905 already, the Russian Tsar Nicolas II The transport of cargo by train in the Netherlands grew from
had intentions to connect Siberia and Alaska by road or by a 37 to 41 million tonnes in 2017. This is namely international
railway sea tunnel. transport, as the inland transport decreased from 5.5 million
tonnes in 2007 to 2.7 million tonnes in 2017.
On the 17th of October 2007, Russia announced that they
wanted to construct the Bering Strait Tunnel in cooperation On the 26th of August 2018, the ten thousandth train between
with the USA. The total length of the tunnel was to be 113 China and Europa completed its journey. This had huge media
kilometres, as at both sides the tunnel would have to lie a bit coverage in China. At the end of August 2018, 48 Chinese cities
past the shore edges. had been connected to 42 European cities by railway.
This has been nothing more than a plan for a long time, but
Russia did start the work process for the Northern part of the
Trans-Siberian railways.
The longest undersea tunnel at the moment is the 1988 built
Seikantunnel which connects the Japanese islands Honshu and
Hokaido. This tunnel took 17 years to be built and has a length
197 The New Maritime Silk Roads stability characteristics, the machinery systems, navigation,
maintenance, systems and the safety equipment;
7.1 General - Topside icing, bringing a potential reduction of stability and
equipment functionality with it;
China has identified two new maritime routes for the BRI-
project: - Low temperatures, as it affects the working environment
and human performance;
- The route from China to the Mediterranean harbours in
Europe (Piraeus and Venice/Trieste/Koper) via the South - Extended periods of darkness or daylight, as it may affect
China Sea and the Indian Ocean. navigation, human performance, etc.;
- The route from China to the coastal harbours in Asia via the - High latitudes, as it affects navigation systems and
Pacific Ocean and the South Chinese Sea. communication systems;
Other routes to the east coast of Africa or to the Netherlands - The possible lack of accurate and complete hydrographic
(Rotterdam), Belgium (Zeebrugge) and South America via the data and the limited search and rescue facilities;
Mediterranean Sea are under investigation.
- Potential lack of experience in polar operations amongst the
And on top off all of that, there is a completely new ship crew, increasing the chances for human error;
development; the route from China to Europe via the Northern
Ice Sea. - Potential lack of suitable emergency response equipment;
- Rapidly changing and severe weather conditions;
7.2 The Northern Ice Sea Route
- The environment, with its sensitivity to harmful substances
As a result of the melting of the Arctic ice cap by climate change, and other environment impacts and its need for longer
this route will probably turn into an easily navigable route restoration.
within the next ten years. The route saves about 30% on time
and it saves on the Suez Canal costs (approx. USD 470,000 for Various classification agencies issue certificates based on the
large container vessels per passage; for instance, Maersk Line Polar Code.
with 1,430 passages each year, pays almost USD 700 million to
the Suez Canal authorities on a yearly basis). Begin June 2018, the USA approved off two shipping lanes in the
Bering Strait; a northern and a southern route.
In September 2013, COSCO’s heavy cargo vessel YONG SHENG
was the first vessel that sailed from China to Rotterdam via this In June 2018, the authoritative science-magazine Nature
route, without the aid of any ice breaking vessels. published that the Antarctic ice cap is melting rapidly as well.
This has resulted in a 7 mm rise of the sea level in the last 25
The northern passage had already been used 370 times in 2013, years, of which 3 mm in the past 5 years (40%).
with approval of the Russian authorities, and was mainly used For a long time, it was assumed that only the Arctic was causing
for the provision of cargo to the Siberian ports. The number a rise in the sea level, but as it turns out, the Antarctic (which
of transports is still at a yearly increase. The number of Bering has a completely different structure) contributes to that a lot too.
Strait passages was at 485 in 2016 and grew to over 800 in
September 2018. The growth of the volume of cargo via the polar According to the Allianz Safety and Shipping Review 2018, 30%
route is approx. 35% per year. of all shipping accidents happen in the South China Sea (also
The distance from East Asia to Europe via the Suez Canal is known as the New Bermuda Triangle). It concerns 252 accidents,
approx. 21,000 km while via the polar route it is only approx. which resulted in 30 total loss vessels (2017). Although 75% of
13,000 km, resulting not only the saving om the Suez Canal cost all accidents were the result of human failure, a number of new
but also in the saving of 8,000 km. risks were also defined in the review
IMO (International Maritime Organisation) has set - Increase of the number of technological claims as result of
some compulsorily rules for navigating polar ice (not just new technics.
requirements to the design of the vessel, but requirements - Political risks in the Middle East and South Chinese Sea.
regarding the crew as well). - Climate; a record high of heavy storms and the increase of
The Polar Code (Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters) was shipping via the Arctic route.
brought to live in 2014 and is a framework of protection for both - Automatically sailing ships.
polar areas; the North Pole (Arctic) and South Pole (Antarctic).
On the 23rd of August 2018, the first containership with ice
The following risks are taken into account: class, the Venta Maersk (3,600 TEU), sailed from Vladiwostok
via the Northern Ice Sea route to St. Petersburg. The ship had
- Ice, as it may damage the hull structure of the ship, its an ice breaking vessel escorting it in case of an emergency. The
20Venta Maersk was the first loaded containership to sail this project is USD 3,5 billion. It makes Djibouti the entrance to
route, 8,000 kilometres shorter than the Suez Canal. The vessel one of the fastest growing economic regions in the world,
passed the Bering Strait on the 6th of September 2018 and including Ethiopia, the fastest growing economy in the
arrived at her destination on the 28th of September 2018 (during whole of Africa.
this trip just two stops were made, Vostochny and Busan). Over 90% of the Ethiopian import and export passes
According to shipping company Maersk, this was a test run on through Djibouti. This generates 70% of the GDP of
collection scientific data and sailing an unknown route with a Djibouti.
container ship, without the help of an icebreaker. The construction of the Djibouti – Addis Ababa railway,
In 2017, the Russian LNG tanker Christoffe de Mangerie was the opened in 2017, has played an important part in this. The
first merchant vessel to sail from Sabetta in Russia to Jiangsu railway with a length of 752 km reduces the transport time
Rudong in China without an icebreaker. The journey took a of 3 days via road to 12 hours via rail.
mere 19 days, instead of the 35 days it would have taken via the
Suez Canal. - The port of Piraeus in Greece is the biggest receiver.
COSCO, China’s largest shipping company and logistic
The IUMI (International Union of Marine Insurance) has issued provider, started modernizing parts of the port of Piraeus
a warning for the insurance of ships that sail via the Arctic in 2008 and took over 51% of the shares of the Piraeus Port
route. This warning is mainly based on the constant change of Authority in April 2016, under the condition that COSCO
ice conditions, the shortage of emergency harbours and “search will receive another 16% of the shares in 2021.
and rescue” facilities. Furthermore, the maps of the region As a result of this, Piraeus became one of the largest
should be extended and updated. The experience of the crew, container ports in Europe. In 2018, Piraeus was probably
the design and the condition of the ship have to be carefully the fifth largest port in Europe, even though ten years before
examined according to IUMI. it did not even secure a spot in the top fifteen largest ports.
Due to the lack of historic details, marine insurers have to make The presence of COSCO in Piraeus is part of the BRI-project
detailed risk-analyses. because it offers the possibility to transport cargo via
Piraeus to Central and South East Europe.
COSCO is forth in the ranking of shipping companies which
transported a total of 21 million TEU at the end of June 2018.
This number increases each year with an average of one million
TEU.
The top ten shipping companies that transported a total of 18
million TEU in 2017, were:
No Shipping Company Capacity in Number
million TEU of ships
1 APM-Maersk 4.1 742
2 Mediterranean Shipping 3.3 525
Company (MSC)
3 CMA-CGM Group 2.5 505
4 COSCO Shipping 2.0 366
5 HAPAG Lloyd 1.6 227
6 Ocean Network Express (ONE) 1.5 232
7 Evergreen Marine Corp. 1.1 197
Northern Ice Sea Route 8 Orient Overseas Container 0.7 100
Line (OOCL)
China and Finland are currently discussing how Finland could 9 Yang Min Marine 0.65 103
be involved in this route, but the contact between China and 10 Pacific International Line (PIL) 0.45 135
Latvia is very good as well.
The take-over of OOIL, including OOCL, by COSCO in 2018 for
a total amount of USD 6.3 billion, changed this ranking.
7.3 Important ports in the maritime Silk Roads
The fact that the Long Beach Container Terminal in the USA
The past years China has invested a large amount of money in was owned by OOCL has caused commotion for some time.
various ports: This quieted down after COSCO announced to transfer this
ownership to a separate foundation and to search for a buyer for
- The port of Djibouti is China’s only overseas base/navy base. this foundation in July 2018.
In July 2018, Djibouti opened the first part of the largest
free customs zone in Africa. This Djibouti International The top six container shipping companies are in control of
Free Trade Zone (DIFTZ) project has an area of 4,800 70% of the total market, and they hold this control with the
hectare and is financed by Djibouti Ports, together with permission of the European, American and Chinese anti-
three Chinese partners. The total investment in this ten-year monopoly authorities.
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