22 Jul 2022 19:57

Lithuanian railroads resume Kaliningrad-bound cargo transit on Friday

VILNIUS. July 22 (Interfax/BNS) - The freight company LTG Cargo owned by the Lithuanian rail operator Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai on Friday resumes transit operations which were suspended since mid-June of sanctioned goods between mainland Russia and Kaliningrad, according to the guidance published by the European Commission (EC). The company's clients were informed accordingly on Friday, the BNS news agency reported.

"Under the relevant regulation of the Council of the European Union and the EC guidance, as well as interpretations by competent authorities, in accordance with the terms of strengthening the control over goods in transit as provided in the EC guidance, LTG Cargo will resume such shipments from today, i.e. from July 22. They will be effected in compliance with the terms of strengthening the control over goods in transit as provided in the EC guidance," the report said.

The company says that freight volumes should correspond to the rail freight average over three years, between January 2019 and late December 2021. The average values will be calculated for each product code separately; applications will be rejected if their volumes have reached the annual average.

Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai says that last year it transited around 11.5 million tonnes of cargo to and from Kaliningrad, including almost 2 million tonnes from Kaliningrad to Russia. The bulk of the goods were food products (1.3 million tonnes), the other types of cargo were transported in insignificant volumes.