In October, Putin's government imposed restrictions on goods that could have dual use, meaning both civilian and military, a move that had a direct and significant impact on containers loaded in China and shipped to Europe via Russia.

Alice Arduini, CEO of Alix International, an Italian freight forwarder, revealed that Russian authorities appear to be checking every container for these restricted goods, resulting in a backlog of hundreds of boxes waiting to be processed.

The items under scrutiny include retail items such as men's jackets, which Russia classifies as potentially dual-use, she said.

"According to the latest information, Russian and Chinese diplomatic authorities held a meeting on January 9 and released several containers. However, in Smolensk, about 90 miles from the Belarusian border, there are still many containers stacked there."

"We have a shipment that has been stuck there since November 4 last year and that shipment left China on October 22 last year. At that time, no one expected that Russia would stop all trains (to check cargo)."

"But the HS (Harmonised System) codes used by customs to classify products now need to be carefully examined to avoid any problems."

Arduini added that it was a desperate situation for European consignees buying goods from China.

"They paid a premium for faster delivery by rail rather than sea, only to be left hanging on when the goods would arrive." One client even told me the delay could put them out of business."

"We hope things will change with Trump in office, but our concern at the moment is that customers may take legal action against us for not delivering goods."

Arduini called on commercial support agency ICCF and Italian freight forwarder Federspedi to take action.

Federspedi said it was "closely monitoring the challenges posed by the inspection of rail containers from China to Europe by the Russian authorities" and had "contacted" the European Federation Clecat "to urge the European Commission to take action".

Last year, rail container traffic between China and the European Union through Russia steadily recovered after two years of stagnation. According to the Russian Ministry of Transport, there was a 35% year-on-year increase in the first half of 2024, and the same trend is expected in the second half of the year, so it is possible to reach the pre-crisis volume of around 400,000 TEUs this year.