Baltic States – CIS, Legislation, Lithuania, Railways, Transport, Ukraine

During the meeting there were discussed such questions as the regular routes of the Viking train, opening of new shipping lines between the Ukraine and Turkey, also possible links with Bulgaria and Georgia necessary for the expansion of the Viking train route. Currently Azerbaijan and Syria have expressed their willingness to join this project. Turkey and countries of Northern Europe are interested in opportunities provided by the Viking project, writes LETA/ELTA.

"Still there remain important issues, such as provision of favourable freight transportation conditions and readiness for more rapid inspection and handling of freight on state borders, as well as the coordination of tariffs. The methods of improvement of customs procedures have been demonstrated to the Ukrainian delegation at Lithuanian State Border Crossing Point," said Minister Masiulis. The amounts of goods transported by the Viking train are growing every year. Last year 56,000 TEU were carried by this train. It is by 34 percent more than in 2010.

The joint Lithuanian, Belorussian and Ukrainian railway project Viking provides reliable transportation of goods by the multimodal transportation train via the following route: Lithuania (Klaipeda Seaport) – Belarus – Ukraine (Ilyichevsk Seaport). First Viking trains between the ports of the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea started operation in the year 2003. As a long-term successfully functioning project, the Viking was awarded a prize of European Intermodal Transport Association in 2009. In the year 2011, Georgia and Moldova joined this project.