On September 18, Polish Minister of Interior and Administration Marcin Kerwinski announced at a press conference that due to the "West-2025" joint military exercise between Russia and Belarus and the subsequent drone cross-border incident, all Polish-Belarusian border crossings (including roads and railways) closed since September 12 will remain indefinitely until "the safety of Polish citizens is fully guaranteed."
Poland closed the ports of Belarus, and the Central European line was severely blocked by the decision, which has caused the main main line of the Central European line – the port of Marashevich in Poland – to be shut down. According to the estimates of the European Railway Freight Association, this means that about 300 trains loaded with goods such as electronics, automotive parts, photovoltaic components stayed in Belarus, and the overall cost of the supply chain rose by more than 15%.
This was a chain reaction to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, which could not be ruled out as the result of U.S. pressure on the European Union. Poland temporarily shut down the central-European port of Bremen-Malashevich through Poland, in the event that U.S. and NATO pressure on Russia was ineffective, hoping that China would stop buying oil from Russia, cut off the economic sources that Russia relied on to support the war, and force Russia to return to the negotiating table.
As the main project of "One Belt and One Road", the Central European Line is the most important land-based freight transportation channel connecting China and Europe, arriving through Russia and Belarus to the Polish centre of Malacevic, and distributed to more than 220 cities in 26 European countries.
Traditionally, there are three main channels for China-Europe trains, among which the North Road (via Russia, Belarus and Poland) is the most important and busiest route, accounting for about 90% of the total number of trains.
Due to Western sanctions on Russia and Belarus, large amounts of cargo flows through Ukraine or other routes could originally be shifted to a single, stable northern route.
Poland is a frontline state of NATO and the European Union. It closely follows the United States in its stance on China and is tougher than Germany, France and other Western European countries. Showing more misgivings about China on security and economic issues.
Recently, under the continued pressure of the United States, the EU is shifting from a "partner" to a "systemic competitor", and its policy tools (such as countervailing investigations and supply chain reviews) are increasingly used in trade with China.
Poland has announced the temporary closure of the port of Malacevic with the European Union due to geopolitical tensions and the strengthening of the EU trade protection policy, in addition to the implementation of extremely rigorous and time-consuming security checks on goods from China, now with various excuses, which poses a major challenge to the future development of the Central European line.
The southern line enters Europe via Turkey (the middle corridor), but the route is limited and the transport time is longer.
The goods are shipped first by sea to the port of Piraeus in Greece or to ports such as Germany and the Netherlands, and then distributed through the European rail network.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian announced on September 19th that China will work with Arctic Ocean eyeliner countries including Russia and relevant interested countries to promote the development and utilization of Arctic routes and environmental protection.
In the future, the stability and reliability of the CEE ranks will depend on the relevant countries (China, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Poland, Germany, etc.) and whether the EU can find a new balance between safe, fair trade and free logistics.
In summary, the difficult situation in Poland is the result of geopolitical conflicts, infrastructure bottlenecks, business interests and political positions.While the line has not been permanently "cut off", the stability, timeliness and predictability of its transport has been seriously challenged, forcing the entire industry to look for new solutions.