What Is The New Silk Road All About? A Good Explanation

When I speak of Karl Gheysen I often find myself verging on the theatrical, saying something to the effect of, “He’s way out there like Colonel Kurtz up the river, near the Eurasian Point of Inaccessibility — the literal middle of nowhere — on the Kazakh steppes on the border with Xinjiang, beneath snow capped mountains, building an entirely new city up from bare dunes.”

Karl, the CEO of Khorgos Gateway, is one of the people building the New Silk Road. He has a vision of creating a new Dubai out in a once barren place that has rapidly become the new crossroads of Eurasia — and he’s doing it. I did another interview with Karl the other day, and he said something that hit at the root of what this New Silk Road endeavor is all about. I will probably break this quote up and use it in other mediums, but I wanted to leave it raw and completely in-tact here, as it really says something:

The New Silk Road, is not just one physical road. It is a concept, a consolidation of different routes, by road, by rail, by air. Routings which will connect Western China with Western Europe. Some trade will materialize on the Trans-Siberian routes, others will go through Trans-Caspian Routes, a combination of the two above, and also many new exciting connections. There are corridors that will be developed, a connection also with Iran etc.

From a narrow point of view, one could eventually try to argue that there is, or would be competition. But from the overall holistic point of view, this is the creation of something new in logistics. This is a new concept, an entire new market. Volumes will be more than sufficient to support all the stakeholders, and instead of competition, will create even stronger ties, since all projects will become inter-connected. And actually, THAT is what the New Silk Road is all about … Inter-Connectivity.

Trains being processed at Khorgos Gateway.

Wade and Karl