News

E. Šimė on the situation at the Polish-Ukrainian border: “we have the first results”

The congestion at the Polish-Ukrainian border can last for two weeks or more. These bottlenecks can hold up workers, industrial and food goods, including products that are particularly sensitive to transport times. As Ukraine faces challenges in getting goods in and out of the country, Lithuanian businesses are also asking how to ensure the movement of goods between the countries. This situation once again highlights the need for cooperation and a flexible logistics approach to non-standard solutions. 

Until now, rail transport between Lithuania and Ukraine via Poland has mainly been agricultural products (cereals and oil) and petroleum products. In anticipation of changing business needs, in recent years LTG Cargo has offered customers to transport their goods via three Polish-Ukrainian border crossings – Mostyska-Medyka, Yagodin-Dorohusk and Izov-Hrubieszów.

In November, we received around 80 new enquiries for freight to and from Ukraine. The vast majority of them came from companies that have been transporting goods by truck. This unprecedented situation is encouraging customers to consider transporting frozen products, paper and cardboard products, chemical goods or timber by rail to and from Ukraine.

The search for new solutions is also driven by the significant increase in road freight costs. LTG Cargo estimates that a full train formation can make rail freight up to 2 times cheaper than road transport. On a single journey, we can transport as much cargo as 36 trucks with 36 drivers would normally carry.

It is clear that the need for change is building. More and more businesses want to try rail. What is missing, then, to shift even more freight to rail? Especially as the border is getting closer, businesses that have been relying on road transport are increasingly looking for alternatives to freight transport.

But desire alone is not enough. Some new categories of goods are constrained by the lack of suitable containers on the market. For example, the high-profile transport of frozen products in recent weeks requires special 40-foot containers with special, i.e. independent, refrigeration equipment. As demand has increased, the supply of such containers in the region has remained stagnant, leaving customers to find ways to secure the containers they need for their perishables.

For other goods, flexible solutions are needed. We are ready to introduce newcomers to the rail sector so that they can move freight around the country both quickly and economically, and learn how to handle new categories of goods. At the same time, we need to find ways to consolidate businesses that have been used to transporting small volumes and single containers.

We have already seen the first results of our work together – a train has been formed from Kaunas Intermodal Terminal to Ukraine with the consolidated containerised cargo of three customers. It will transport PET pellets and ammonium sulphate and empty containers. The train should reach Ukraine next week, which we expect to take 8-9 days. We are continuing to work with carriers and partners in Poland and Ukraine to ensure that train trainsets with different commodities can start running once a week later this year.