European and international financial institutions will allocate €10 billion for sustainable transport links between the EU and Central Asia. The investments will be used to develop the Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor, so that cargo can pass through it within 15 days.

On the eve of his state visit to China (January 23-25), President Shavkat Mirziyoyev published author's articles on the prospects of Uzbek-Chinese relations in People's Daily.

"Uzbekistan is sincerely satisfied with China's successes," he said

"The first month of the new year is always about meeting with best friends, new hopes and endeavors. It is deeply symbolic that I will make my first visit to the Celestial Empire next year at the invitation of His Excellency Mr. Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China," the article said.

The development of transportation and logistics infrastructure for economic activities of the two countries under China's "One Less, One Road" initiative.

"Increasing multimodal multimodal routes between China and Central Asia to load cargo and passengers to the world market, new terminals, new high-tech production and facilities, and the creation of integrated roadside services. The digitalization of infrastructure and logistics will be an important contribution to the development of interregional ties along the historic Great Silk Road.

The closure of the Suez route has changed the fundamental outlook for container shipping in 2024, with a potential capacity crunch in Asia looming in the short term, according to the January report of the Baltic Exchange.

In the report, Vespucci Maritime CEO Lars Jensen wrote that up until mid-December 2023, the baseline outlook for 2024 was for a continued cyclical downturn likely with freight rates bottoming out in late 1Q or early 2Q 2024.

Jensen wrote, “After this, it was anticipated that carriers would begin to idle more capacity to stabilise and strengthen rates from what had already become loss-making levels. The de-facto closure of the Suez routing has changed this baseline outlook fundamentally.”

Threats of attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the Red Sea, the entry to the Suez, has made many operators detour vessels around the Cape of Good Hope.

Operating the Asia-Europe and part of the Asia-US East Coast network will absorb 5 to 6% of global capacity. This should be manageable given the amount of overcapacity that had accumulated in the market.

Jensen continued, “Clearly, supply chains would have longer transit times, with Asia-North Europe up by 7 to 8 days and Asia-Med up by 10 to 12 days at least. It will also lead to rates markedly higher than pre-crisis. This will cause carriers to become profitable again. But rates will peak in the next four weeks and then abate to this new level.”

The slow repositioning of empty containers, common during the Covid-19-fuelled pandemic, is likely to repeat itself.

In the period from January to November 2023, investment in fixed assets of China's transportation sector increased by 3.2 percent year-on-year to 3.6 trillion yuan /about $506.84 billion/, data from the Ministry of Transport of the People's Republic of China showed. The data of the Ministry of Transportation of the People's Republic of China showed.

In particular, investments in fixed assets in road transport increased by 1.2 percent to 2.6 trillion yuan, in water transport - by 23.7 percent to 182.9 billion yuan, the ministry said.

Danish shipping company Maersk will suspend transits through the Red Sea for 48 hours after its vessels were attacked by the Houthis, DR TV channel reported.

Earlier on Sunday, the U.S. Central Command reported that Maersk's commercial vessel Hangzhou was again attacked by the Houthis in the Red Sea, with U.S. helicopters sinking the small boats that attacked it.

Maersk earlier said it was preparing to resume shipping through the Red Sea after launching the multinational Operation Guardian of Prosperity to protect shipping in the sea.

On Friday, Bloomberg reported citing the Pentagon that the U.S. military is trying to reassure shipping companies that multinational forces are ensuring safe passage through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal despite attacks by the Houthis.