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Thursday, 28.03.2024, 17:03
Latvian transit corridor has chances to attract additional 9 mln tons of cargo
Euro Rail Trans is
a Latvian-Russian joint venture where Russian railway company RZD Logistika is a partner. "Our
goal is to promote increase of cargo flow in Latvia's direction. Today the
sanctions between the EU, the US and Russia have created a very complicated
situation for Latvia. We see that Liepajas
Metalurgs steelworks has closed down, people are out of jobs. We see that
fish canneries have lost significant markets and are not receiving
compensations for it. We see that our dairy sector is facing a fact it will not
be compensated for the sanction consequences. We have to solve these problems
on our own, but we hope that something will be solved in Brussels or the
US," said Slesers.
He also said that Latvia's neighbors Lithuania and Estonia
are also director competitors. "Our merchants, producers and ports are
competing. Unfortunately, in the past 20 years Lithuania has lived in a
situation in which Kaliningrad's corridor has been used to subsidize Klaipeda
port. Of course, it created problems for the Riga port, the Liepaja port and
the Ventspils port. As I am not only a board member of Euro Rail Trans, but also one of the owners, I am interested in
attracting new cargos to Latvia at a time when other cargos are leaving the
country. This is why we support the Baltic Forum. This forum attracts
representatives not only from Latvia and Russia, but also from the US and many
European countries," said Slesers.
"We see that today it is possible to attract additional
nine million tons of cargo to Latvia - those are cargos currently going through
Belarus and Lithuania to Kaliningrad. We can transprot these cargos through
Latvia. Of course, they will also go through Lithuania. But we want them
transported by Latvian companies. We want for Lithuania to open its market to
Latvia like we have done it for them. We see that Maxima retail chain is
expanding freely in Latvia. We want Latvian transportation companies to take cargos
from Russian-Latvian border to Kaliningrad. That is our goal," he said.
Asked about what should be done to achieve this goal,
Slesers called on Latvijas Dzelzcels
state-owned railway company to seriously work on this issue. It is clear that
an agreement should be achieved between the Latvian and Russian railway
companies. Also, the support of the government is needed.
According to Firmas.lv business database, Euro Rail Trans was registered in 2012.
The company' s turnover last year was EUR 3,832,301, while its profit reached
EUR 432,290. The company belongs to Russian
Railways Logistics (51 %) and Latvia' s Transtrade
Riga (49 %).