Supply Chain Research

China Railway will expand its freight service from China to Iran during the rest of this year after two initial test services. The routing, through Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, is part of the broader belt-and-road expansion policy of China. Chinese exports to Iran have begun to expand recently, rising 9% in the past quarter on a year earlier after three years of an annualized 7% decline. Currently goods are either transported by ship (which takes a long time for the distance involved) or by air (expensive), limiting the supply of goods to higher value items. Rail therefore brings the pot...