The pilot "Viking Train" unit is scheduled to depart from Lithuania for Turkey as soon as this summer. It is one of the most important tasks in the action plan that the project partners and operators have provided for the "Viking Train" development. The train, currently running between Lithuania and Ukraine, is expected to link Turkey and Scandinavia in the near future.

At the beginning of March, representatives from Lithuania, Turkey, Romania and Ukraine signed the development plan of the "Viking Train" project. The key objective of this plan is to expand the route of the container train in the directions of Turkey and Scandinavia. It was agreed to arrange special conferences and forums in Turkey and the Scandinavian countries where potential clients would be provided with commercial offers.

The first container train from Turkey to the Scandinavian countries transiting through Lithuania should also be launched this summer shortly after the pilot "Viking Train" trip from Lithuania to Turkey takes place.

The "Viking Train" container train is a joint project of the Lithuanian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian and Moldavian railways, linking the Baltic Sea with the Black Sea. The "Viking Train" covers a distance of 1.7 thousand km within 52 hours. In addition to the all-purpose and specialized containers presently being utilized, the train is planned to carry trucks and semi-trailers in the future. 

The first trains of the "Viking Train" project started shuttling between the seaports of the Baltic and the Black Seas in 2003. Moldova joined the project in 2011, and Turkey will follow in July 2014. Moreover, negotiations seeking the accession of Romanian, Georgian, Azerbaijani and Scandinavian railway administrations to this project are currently being conducted.

In 2008, PROMIT European Coordination Action, initiated by the European Commission, recognized the "Viking Train" as an example of a Best Practice. In 2009, the European Intermodal Association (EIA) awarded the project the distinction of being the ‘Best Practice in the Field of Intermodal Transport'.

For more information: http://www.vikingtrain.com
 

New possibilities for the "Mongolian Vector" project development were discussed at the meeting held with the Mongolian delegation at the Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Lithuania. Lithuania has suggested extending the route of the "Mongolian Vector" container train from Ulaanbaatar – Moscow – Brest to the port of Klaipėda.

It is believed that the Lithuanian aim to link the route of the "Mongolian Vector" with the line of the "Viking Train" project will be successfully implemented. 

The Minister of Road and Transportation of Mongolia, A. Gansukh, will come with a visit to Vilnius on June 3^rd_, 2014. On that occasion, a Memorandum of Understanding on Bilateral Cooperation in the Field of Transport between Lithuania and Mongolia is expected to be signed.

For more information: http://www.vikingtrain.com

A few weeks ago, "Vilnius Shuttle" train carried a record number of containers (154 TEU) in one trip. The same amount could be carried by 78 trucks.

"Vilnius Shuttle" is a regular container train that has been running between the Klaipėda ‘Draugystė' and Vilnius Paneriai railway stations since March 2009. In 2012, the frequency of the train trips was increased from one to two times a week. The freight only container train carrying freight within the territory of Lithuania is operated by UAB "Intermodal Container Service".

In 2013, the ‘Vilnius Shuttle' carried 10,697 TEU containers, which is 268% more than in 2012, when only 3,986 TEU containers were carried.

For more information:  http://www.intermodal.lt

The Vilnius Intermodal Terminal (VIT) currently being built in Vaidotai intends to become a sort of satellite for the port of Klaipėda. Freight shipped to the port of Klaipėda from other countries is further transported by auto to Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipėda warehouses, and only then, after transferring it onto railway wagons and trucks, goes to Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan and other countries. The VIT will contribute to a much faster distribution in the flows of container import arriving through the port of Klaipėda. The construction of the VIT will be completed in November of this year, and it will start operating next year.

Following the establishment of the VIT, the intermodal transport chain will be expanded, and containers from Klaipėda to Vilnius will be carried by rail. In collaboration with neighbouring logistics companies that have their own warehouses, the distribution of goods has been planned for the region of Vilnius and to Belarus or further. This is not only important for the competition between logistics companies, but also within the entire Lithuanian transport system. A number of pre-agreements have already been signed with companies planning to settle in the Vilnius Public Logistics Centre Park.  What is more, the world's largest container lines, "MSC" and "Maersk", have also expressed a wish to establish their own subdivisions in Vaidotai and are looking forward to signing an agreement in the near future. Currently, "Maersk" containers carry a large number of Belarusian export goods, so storing empty containers in Vilnius (located very close to Belarus), rather than in Klaipėda, will significantly shorten the distance and reduce the costs of container transportation. 

Lithuania plans to establish more similar types of logistics centres in its territory. The design project of the Klaipėda Intermodal Terminal, intended to speed up and optimize the process of container shipment from the port of Klaipėda, is currently being finalized. It is expected that the Klaipėda land terminal will allow increasing the amount of containers shipped from the port by rail, and the VIT will successfully direct these containers to the Eastern markets.

For more information: http://www.intermodal.lt

A Chinese business delegation working in Belarus visited Lithuania from April 2 to 4. The guests met with representatives of Lithuanian institutions who supervise activities in the transport and economic areas. The meeting was aimed at linking the European countries with China by establishing both collaboration and a transport bridge.

The growing amount of China's ongoing projects and trade with Belarus has significantly increased the flow of transit cargo through Lithuania. Consequently, a new challenge has appeared in the form of switching from medium-range transport operations towards the creation of global logistic chains by joining the East with the West.

The Chinese business delegation was introduced to development priorities within the Lithuanian transport sector, infrastructure projects, a vision of economic development, prospects for Lithuania's logistics sector and JSC "Lithuanian Railways", as well as with development projects of the port of Klaipėda. The businessmen were also acquainted with Lithuania's opportunities to transport and facilitate the transit of Chinese freight. Substantial efforts are being made to carry freights that are currently being transported to Chinese factories located in Belarus by Lithuanian railways.

During the three-day visit, the Chinese businessmen working in Belarus met with directors and representatives of the Government, ministries of Transport and Economy, "Versli Lietuva", "Invest in Lithuania", JSC "Lithuanian Railways", Klaipėda State Seaport Authority, "LINEKA" and Klaipėda stevedoring companies.

The Republic of Poland is one of Lithuania's most important strategic partners in Western Europe. On April 10, the conference ‘Organization of Freight Transportation on the New "Rail Baltica" Line between Poland and Lithuania' was held at the ‘POLONIA PALACE HOTEL' in Warsaw. The key objective of the conference was to ensure long-term and mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation by means of the efficient usage of the abilities and advantages of railway transport. During the conference, freight transportation by rail was presented, as well as logistics, forwarding issues, and further cooperation possibilities were discussed.

It has been planned that the ‘Rail Baltica' Trans-European Rail Network project which will link the Republic of Poland and the Republic of Lithuania will be fully implemented in 2015, so cooperation between this country's partners, freight transporters, forwarders and forwarding companies is highly important. Freight transportation agreements have already been signed with ‘DB Schenker Rail AG', ‘DB Schenker Rail POLSKA', and ‘PKG Cargo'. Now that negotiations are being carried out with the ‘INTRA S.A.' company concerning a new container train launched on the ‘Wloclawek-Šeštokai-Klaipėda' route, there is some on-going cooperation with ‘HUPAC' concerning the ‘Šeštokai Express' common container train on the Warsaw-Šeštokai-Kena-Minsk-Smolensk route. Presently, 20 companies are performing freight transportation at the Šeštokai Railway Station. When the European standard gauge starts operating, it will be necessary to attract, form and organize specific freight flows between both countries.

You may register on the website: http://cargo.litrail.lt/web/kroviniai/varsuvoje-2014-04-10

Starting next year, vessels which use fuel that contains a large amount of sulphur will not be permitted to sail in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. Only those vessels whose sulphur amount does not exceed 0.1% in the fuel (i.e. ten times less than it has been permitted up to now) will be allowed to be launched. Cleaner but more expensive fuel will have to be chosen; so the price of freight transportation will necessarily increase. Businessmen of the Port of Klaipėda worry that some portion of their freight may be taken by competitors in the East.

Harbourers have no doubt that the new requirements will have a negative impact on the port's competitiveness; some part of the freight, for example, may be taken by the ports of the Black Sea because stricter requirements will not be imposed there. They do not object to the stricter requirements improving the ecological conditions, but instead, to the decision to impose this requirement unequally between market participants. Consequently, they will seek to postpone the decision concerning this enactment in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea.

Stricter requirements which are to enter into force will mostly affect the sector of short sea transportation, the transportation of containers or freight transported by tugboats and carried by ferries part of the way.

‘Klaipėdos Nafta' is planning to establish a new terminal within its territory and provide vessels with liquefied natural gas fuel. This would be marketable if stricter requirements for vessel fuel were imposed across the entire world. Presently, vessels using liquefied gas are mostly built in the Scandinavian countries; where these countries receive support from the state or have particular funds which are allocated to build such vessels, because now they cost 20% more than ordinary ones.

During 2020-2025, stricter restrictions are planned to be imposed on vessels sailing in all the world's waters that produce sulphur emissions.

For more information: http://www.portofklaipeda.lt

A bilateral cooperation agreement between the ports of Klaipėda and New Orleans was signed in New Orleans, the capital city of the Louisiana state in the USA. The agreement obliges both countries to exchange trade statistics and help each other disseminate information about their port activities.

This is the third document of this kind that the Klaipėda Seaport and the USA ports have signed in the last few years. The document seeks to promote the recognition of Lithuania as a known transit country in the U.S. market. The bilateral agreement would allow generating new transatlantic flows of goods to other regional markets through Lithuania, which has an excellent infrastructure for intermodal transit.

Lithuania is looking forward to larger U.S. cargo flows through the port of Klaipėda. It is expected that the first liquefied natural gas terminal, which will start operating at the end of this year, will be able to receive gas from all over the world, and supposedly from the USA also. 

During the meeting, the infrastructure of the port of Klaipėda, the Lithuanian railways network and the currently implemented container train projects with Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and China were presented.

The Lithuanian delegation also visited the Port of New Orleans, looked over the port terminals, transport infrastructure, and greeted the crew of the ‘Venta' a cargo ship of the ‘Lithuanian Shipping Company', which was moored at the port at that time. Located in the Mississippi River delta, the Port of New Orleans has the world's longest mooring quay and can serve 15 ships at a time.

For more information: http://www.portofklaipeda.lt

Container handling in the port of Klaipėda has grown by one-third.

Throughout January-February of 2014, 6.5 tons of maritime cargo was handled by the port of Klaipėda and the Būtingė Terminal.

During January-February of 2014, the most plentiful type of cargo handled by the port of Klaipėda was dry and bulk cargo that accounted for 46%, which was 0.7% more than that handled during the corresponding period in 2013.

This result was determined by a rapid increase in the handling volumes of natural and chemical fertilizers. The amounts of other cargoes such as ore, crude and manufactured minerals, building materials, metal scrap, determining the handling in this group, also increased. Having reached a record in 2013, the handling of agricultural products reduced within this group of plentiful cargoes.

During the first two months of the year, the fastest increase, even by as much as 10.1%, was seen in the turnover of general cargo. Such an increase was mostly determined by the growing number of containerized cargoes which jumped from the fourth place to the second in the general port handling statistics. Fertilizers remain the port's most plentiful cargo.

During January-February of 2014, 940 ships entered the port of Klaipėda and the Būtingė Terminal. 10 of the ships moored at the Būtingė Terminal, whereas the port of Klaipėda received 930 ships.

For more information: http://www.portofklaipeda.lt