Lithuania and Ukraine plan to connect the ports of Odesa and Klaipeda by rail

Lithuania and Ukraine are considering the possibility of developing new transport corridors between the port of Klaipėda and Ukrainian seaports, in particular Odesa, as well as improving railway connections between the countries and increasing the volume of cargo transportation. This was reported by the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Lithuania, writes CFTS.

In March 2023, a meeting of the Economic Committee delegations of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the Economic Committee of the Republic of Lithuania’s Seimas took place in Lviv. The event discussed joint actions aimed at creating an additional link of the Baltic-Adriatic Corridor through the EU to the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) and the border of Ukraine in the direction of Dorohusk.

“We need to connect the Baltic and Black seas with transport corridors with sufficient capacity, transform the existing railway connection from the Klaipėda seaport to Odesa and other Ukrainian ports into the TEN-T corridor on the European track. Such a corridor bypassing Belarus and Russia is important not only for Lithuania, but also for other Baltic countries in order to effectively use their seaports and reach Southern Europe,” said the Deputy Minister of Transport of Lithuania Loretta Maskaliovene.

According to her, Lithuania and Ukraine should take concrete steps, in particular, aimed at identifying important projects for the implementation of this corridor and cooperation with EU institutions.

Currently, the most significant issue is the joint efforts to develop an additional transport corridor to the TEN-T network, which will allow to increase the total throughput capacity on the Ukraine-EU border in the direction of the Baltic Sea ports.

The improvement of transport connections between the countries will allow to further increase the volume of freight transportation by railway between the Klaipeda seaport and Ukraine.

As GMK Center reported earlier, the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda in 2022 reduced transshipment of goods by 21% compared to 2021 – to 36.1 million tons. Thus, Klaipėda reduced cargo turnover to the lowest level since 2013, when 33.4 million tons of cargo was handled. The decrease was mainly due to the loss of almost all transit cargo due to the war in Ukraine and related sanctions.

Also, Lithuania plans to lay railway track of the European standard to the Klaipeda State Seaport. The lack of a Eurotrack significantly reduces the competitiveness of the Klaipėda port.