Rhenus Group aims to establish 14 terminals along the Middle Corridor, enhancing trade routes between Europe and Asia.
Rhenus Group plans to develop up to 14 terminals across the Middle Corridor. The trade route, formally known as the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), links Asia and Europe via Central Asia, the Caspian Sea, and the South Caucasus. A new trimodal container facility in Aktau, Kazakhstan, forms part of the plan.
The expansion could give European companies greater capacity and more dependable connections for moving goods to and from Asian suppliers and markets. For cargo owners managing long-haul supply chains, that means more routing options and stronger links between overland and maritime legs.
Tobias Bartz, CEO and Chairman of the Management Board of Rhenus Group, stated that the company aims to build 14 terminals stretching from Uzbekistan across Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan to Turkiye. Rhenus then intends to connect these sites with its existing European operations.
This integration would link a new chain of Central Asian and Caucasus terminals with Rhenus's established port infrastructure in Europe. It would bring origin, transit, and destination handling into a single connected network.
Rhenus is developing a multimodal logistics center on the Caspian Sea together with Kazakhstan's national railway operator, KTZ, and the Port of Aktau. The planned trimodal container facility in Aktau is designed to handle cargo across three transport modes. This type of hub allows containers to move between rail, road, and sea without leaving the terminal, a critical function on a route that depends on transfers across the Caspian.
The project aligns with broader European investment in the route. In September, the European Commission announced it would mobilize up to EUR 12 billion in combined public and private funding for the Middle Corridor. The Commission aims to triple trade volumes and shorten freight transit times by 2030.
Recent data points to rising demand along the corridor. According to Kazakhstan's Ministry of Trade and Integration, freight volumes on the Trans-Caspian route grew by up to 62%. Over the same period, container movements increased 2.7 times to 56,500 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units), with the ministry reporting that figure in 2025.
The route's international association reported that Middle Corridor container traffic reached 76,900 TEU in 2025, a 36% increase over 2024. The two figures come from separate reporting bodies and are not directly comparable. Both, however, show strong upward momentum in container flows along the corridor.
Rhenus's terminal plan, its partnership with KTZ and the Port of Aktau, and EU-backed funding together point to a corridor gaining both infrastructure and institutional support. For shippers, freight forwarders, and importers moving goods between Europe and Asia, the planned network is designed to add capacity, routing flexibility, and more dependable connections on a route that is handling a growing share of Eurasian trade.
