Trailer transport between Kiev and Klaipeda 17/11/23
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LTG Cargo and Ukrainian Railways are testing intermodal transport of semi-trailers between Kiev and Klaipėda
Author: Łukasz Kuś
Ukrainian Railways (UZ) and LTG Cargo - a freight carrier that is part of the Lithuanian Railways group - conducted a test of a combined connection between the port of Klaipėda and Kiev. The transport of semi-trailers in the intermodal system took 9 days, but in the future it is planned to shorten the transit time to 5 days.
photo: UZThe first test of the intermodal connection was carried out in September 2023. Lithuania and Ukraine want to improve the transport routes connecting these countries, bypassing Belarus, which is subject to European sanctions. Ukrainians are looking for alternative export and import channels to the ports on the Black Sea that are threatened by Russia's military activities. The possibilities of organizing transport from and to Ukraine through Polish sea ports are limited due to the high occupancy of the terminals in Gdańsk and Gdynia, which handle an increasing volume of cargo. However, seaports in the Baltic countries currently have unused potential, as Russia has redirected its foreign trade to routes bypassing EU countries. Hence the idea for the Lithuanian sea port to take over the handling of part of Ukraine's foreign trade.
Technical challenges
The problem, however, is the need to bypass Belarus and reload goods twice between European and Russian rolling stock, which is done in the intermodal terminal in Kaunas, connected to Rail Baltica, and in terminals on the Polish-Ukrainian border. This, in turn, extends transit time and increases transport costs. The purpose of carrying out the test transport of semi-trailers was to examine the profitability of such services and the possibilities of improving them and shortening the travel time. Intermodal transport may turn out to be a good alternative to road transport, which is currently struggling with major congestion and difficulties at the Polish-Ukrainian border crossings.
Read also:Polish carriers protest at the border crossings with Ukraine
— Cooperation with Ukraine, providing customers with interesting solutions in the field of cargo transport between Lithuania and Ukraine, is always in the center of our attention. Together with our partners, we are constantly looking for ways to facilitate and promote more efficient cargo flows between countries. For comparison, in modern conditions, a traffic jam at the border can last up to two weeks or longer, said Eglė Šimė, president of LTG Cargo.
Round-trip transportation
As part of testing the trance, a load of semi-trailers was delivered to the terminal in Kaunas, where they were loaded onto flatbed wagons, from where they were transported by train to Ukraine. LTG Cargo in Lithuania and LTG Cargo Polska in our country were responsible for rail transport. At the Medyka - Mostyska checkpoint, semi-trailers will be reloaded from European platforms to Ukrainian ones and transported by Ukrainian Railways to the Liski terminal in Kiev, from where the goods will be delivered to end customers by cars. It is also planned to transport cargo in the opposite direction - from Ukraine to customers in the Baltic countries. Goods such as salt, fertilizers and PET granules will be transported from Lithuania to Ukraine. Cereals, construction materials and food will be transported in the other direction. Reloading between trains with different spacing will be carried out at the Mostyska - Medyka, Jagodin - Dorohusk and Izow - Hrubieszów railway crossings.
In the future, if necessary, the possibility of introducing a regular train route in this direction will be considered, and LTG Cargo and Ukrzaliznytsia are ready to provide locomotives and specialized platforms necessary to transport goods on this route. Carriers hope that they will be able to introduce improvements in reloading and transport and shorten the travel time on this connection by several days.