Yesterday, the Polish government openly overturned its commitments to China and shut down the Central European line again.This unreliable act is equivalent to handing over its own status as a “European gateway” permanently to others.
The closure of the cross-border railway hub between Malawi and Brest is the third time Poland has temporarily closed the port in six months.
The Polish Ministry of Infrastructure gave the reason for “upgrading the customs inspection system,” but it has only been eight weeks since the last system upgrade and has not informed China 72 hours in advance as agreed before the closure.
Further concern is that Poland had signed an agreement with the Chinese side in March 2025, explicitly committing to "guaranteeing all-weather customs at the port", this unilateral rupture of the agreement, directly affecting the normal operation of the China-European line northern passage.
The stranded trains carry a variety of goods, covering chip components of an electronics company in Suzhou, small commodity clusters in Yiwu, auto parts in Chongqing, etc., with a total value of about 2.6 billion yuan.
Of the 12 rails loaded fresh products face the risk of degradation, some enterprises urgently launch an alternative air transportation scheme, leading to a three-fold increase in logistics costs.
According to the data of China Railway International Co., Ltd., Malasevich Port is responsible for 65% of the track change and customs clearance tasks of the northern line of China-Europe trains, and its closure directly leads to a 70% decrease in the traffic efficiency of the northern line.
Poland’s “disbelief” is not without signs.
Earlier, the EU introduced new rules on cross-border freight safety checks, requiring 100% open-box checks on rail freight from non-EU countries, and Poland, as a gateway to Central and Eastern Europe, tried to strengthen controls to the EU.
But this approach ignores its dependence on Central European logistics — in 2024, Poland’s logistics revenue through the Central European line reached €1.8 billion, directly created 12,000 jobs at the Malacchevik port, and the closure initiative has sparked collective protests by local logistics companies.
The emergency response from China and its operators quickly landed.
On the same day, the Economic and Commercial Office of the Chinese Embassy in Poland held an emergency coordination meeting with the Polish General Administration of Customs to sort out the list of stranded goods and put forward a diversion plan.
The railway sector first adjusted the operating map, shifted the original 50% of the line through the north to the south, and entered the European Union through the Hungarian Zahoni port, which has urgently enabled the spare switching equipment, ensuring the efficiency of the line passage to maintain the original level of 80%.
Chongqing, Chengdu and other routes began to synchronously encrypted mid-line flights in cities and enter Europe through the port of Cohitze in Slovakia, which reduced the transport time to 14 days with the newly built broadband railway.
The choice of the market is accelerating the diversion.
German Railways announced a partnership with the port of Klaipeda, Lithuania, to open the "Rail + Sea" transportation route, transferring the stalled goods to the port, shipping through the Baltic Sea to the port of Hamburg, then distributed across Europe.
This alternative route took over 28 stop lines for the first week, and the Prime Minister of Lithuania openly expressed "welcome China-European Pass Passage", with 3 new switch lines added to the port of Kaunas in its territory, and customs capacity increased to 20 routes per day.
Poland's status as the "gateway to Europe" is being diluted.
From January to August 2025, the traffic volume of China-Europe freight trains at Zahoni Port in Hungary increased by 120% year-on-year, and Kosice Port in Slovakia increased by 95%, while the share of Malasevic Port has dropped from 65% last year to 42%.
More importantly, the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway will be officially opened to traffic in September 2025. This new southern line channel starts from Xinjiang, China, connects Turkey to Europe via Central Asia, completely bypasses the ports of Central and Eastern Europe, and will undertake 32 trains in the first month of opening to traffic. China-Europe freight trains, and the traffic volume is still rising rapidly.
Opposition in Poland continues to ferment.
Warsaw Logistics Association organized more than 200 enterprises to jointly write a letter, asking the government to immediately resume the port opening, saying that "closing the port is tantamount to cutting off the financial road".
The largest railway operator in Poland, PKP Group, issued a statement warning that the shutdown would lead to the loss of its qualification for cooperation with China Railways, which generates annual revenue of €400 million.
Under the pressure of many parties, the Polish General Administration of Customs was forced to announce the "targeted opening" of some channels, allowing trains that had completed pre-declaration to clear customs first, but the daily traffic volume was only 30% of the normal period.
This wave tested the resilience of the Central European line-up.
From the diversion of the southern and middle lines to the opening of new channels, from the innovation of "railway + sea transportation" intermodal transport to the coordinated support of multinational ports, the logistics network has shown strong adaptation capabilities in the changing situation.
Although Poland's dishonesty has caused short-term troubles, it has accelerated the diversified layout of China-Europe logistics channels and made the concept of "not putting eggs in one basket" take root. With the maturity of more alternative channels, the "circle of friends" of China-Europe trains continues to expand, and this "steel link" connecting Asia and Europe is becoming more and more solid.
The closure of the cross-border railway hub between Malawi and Brest is the third time Poland has temporarily closed the port in six months.
The Polish Ministry of Infrastructure gave the reason for “upgrading the customs inspection system,” but it has only been eight weeks since the last system upgrade and has not informed China 72 hours in advance as agreed before the closure.
Further concern is that Poland had signed an agreement with the Chinese side in March 2025, explicitly committing to "guaranteeing all-weather customs at the port", this unilateral rupture of the agreement, directly affecting the normal operation of the China-European line northern passage.
The stranded trains carry a variety of goods, covering chip components of an electronics company in Suzhou, small commodity clusters in Yiwu, auto parts in Chongqing, etc., with a total value of about 2.6 billion yuan.
Of the 12 rails loaded fresh products face the risk of degradation, some enterprises urgently launch an alternative air transportation scheme, leading to a three-fold increase in logistics costs.
According to the data of China Railway International Co., Ltd., Malasevich Port is responsible for 65% of the track change and customs clearance tasks of the northern line of China-Europe trains, and its closure directly leads to a 70% decrease in the traffic efficiency of the northern line.
Poland’s “disbelief” is not without signs.
Earlier, the EU introduced new rules on cross-border freight safety checks, requiring 100% open-box checks on rail freight from non-EU countries, and Poland, as a gateway to Central and Eastern Europe, tried to strengthen controls to the EU.
But this approach ignores its dependence on Central European logistics — in 2024, Poland’s logistics revenue through the Central European line reached €1.8 billion, directly created 12,000 jobs at the Malacchevik port, and the closure initiative has sparked collective protests by local logistics companies.
The emergency response from China and its operators quickly landed.
On the same day, the Economic and Commercial Office of the Chinese Embassy in Poland held an emergency coordination meeting with the Polish General Administration of Customs to sort out the list of stranded goods and put forward a diversion plan.
The railway sector first adjusted the operating map, shifted the original 50% of the line through the north to the south, and entered the European Union through the Hungarian Zahoni port, which has urgently enabled the spare switching equipment, ensuring the efficiency of the line passage to maintain the original level of 80%.
Chongqing, Chengdu and other routes began to synchronously encrypted mid-line flights in cities and enter Europe through the port of Cohitze in Slovakia, which reduced the transport time to 14 days with the newly built broadband railway.
The choice of the market is accelerating the diversion.
German Railways announced a partnership with the port of Klaipeda, Lithuania, to open the "Rail + Sea" transportation route, transferring the stalled goods to the port, shipping through the Baltic Sea to the port of Hamburg, then distributed across Europe.
This alternative route took over 28 stop lines for the first week, and the Prime Minister of Lithuania openly expressed "welcome China-European Pass Passage", with 3 new switch lines added to the port of Kaunas in its territory, and customs capacity increased to 20 routes per day.
Poland's status as the "gateway to Europe" is being diluted.
From January to August 2025, the traffic volume of China-Europe freight trains at Zahoni Port in Hungary increased by 120% year-on-year, and Kosice Port in Slovakia increased by 95%, while the share of Malasevic Port has dropped from 65% last year to 42%.
More importantly, the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway will be officially opened to traffic in September 2025. This new southern line channel starts from Xinjiang, China, connects Turkey to Europe via Central Asia, completely bypasses the ports of Central and Eastern Europe, and will undertake 32 trains in the first month of opening to traffic. China-Europe freight trains, and the traffic volume is still rising rapidly.
Opposition in Poland continues to ferment.
Warsaw Logistics Association organized more than 200 enterprises to jointly write a letter, asking the government to immediately resume the port opening, saying that "closing the port is tantamount to cutting off the financial road".
The largest railway operator in Poland, PKP Group, issued a statement warning that the shutdown would lead to the loss of its qualification for cooperation with China Railways, which generates annual revenue of €400 million.
Under the pressure of many parties, the Polish General Administration of Customs was forced to announce the "targeted opening" of some channels, allowing trains that had completed pre-declaration to clear customs first, but the daily traffic volume was only 30% of the normal period.
This wave tested the resilience of the Central European line-up.
From the diversion of the southern and middle lines to the opening of new channels, from the innovation of "railway + sea transportation" intermodal transport to the coordinated support of multinational ports, the logistics network has shown strong adaptation capabilities in the changing situation.
Although Poland's dishonesty has caused short-term troubles, it has accelerated the diversified layout of China-Europe logistics channels and made the concept of "not putting eggs in one basket" take root. With the maturity of more alternative channels, the "circle of friends" of China-Europe trains continues to expand, and this "steel link" connecting Asia and Europe is becoming more and more solid.