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International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Thursday, 28.03.2024, 17:03

Latvian transit corridor has chances to attract additional 9 mln tons of cargo

BC, Riga, 24.10.2016.Print version
The Latvian transit corridor has chances to attract additional nine million tons of cargo - those are cargos currently going through Belarus and Lithuania to Kaliningrad, said Ainars Slesers, a board member and co-owner of Euro Rail Trans logistics company, in an interview Latvia's business daily Dienas Bizness on Monday, cites LETA.

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 %).






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