LTG Cargo rejects hundreds of transport requests to block Belarusian cargo
During March, LTG Cargo rejected 506 rail transport applications. Most of them (258) came from neighbouring Belarus and involved, among others, state-controlled companies which attempted to forward their cargo via Lithuania’s rail network and ports.Read more
LTG: more x-ray machines on the borders as smuggling investigation continues
LTG Infra and the Lithuanian Customs Office step up their attempts to control and restrict smuggling and sanction circumvention attempts via rail. In this context, they aim to deploy two x-ray machines at the Kybartai...Read more
Malaszewicze upgrade may be financed by Polish government
Funding for the upgrade of the Malaszewicze rail border crossing between Belarus and Poland might come from the Polish government. “The Ministry of Infrastructure is working on a draft act providing Cargotor with financing for...Read more
No more transit of sanctioned goods in Turkey, for now
Turkish customs authorities are reported to have put a sudden stop to the transit transport of sanctioned goods to Russia and Belarus. Cargo that is sanctioned by the EU can no longer be shipped through...Read more
LTG’s tighter rules against smuggling pay off, tens of wagons seized
LTG Cargo seized 30 wagons loaded with products from Lukoil, a Russian energy company. The cargo was captured before it entered the Russian exclave Kaliningrad. Since last week, the Lithuanian company has been enforcing stricter...Read more
LTG Cargo tightens up rules to fight smuggling of sanctioned goods
LTG Cargo, the freight subsidiary of Lithuanian Railways, is introducing stricter regulations to prevent sanctioned cargo from illegally entering Lithuania, especially from Belarus. Since the beginning of March, LTG Cargo’s customers will have to provide...Read more
Lithuanian customs seize tonnes of Belarusian sanctioned cargo and proceed to arrests
The Lithuanian Customs Criminal Service has been conducting an off-the-radar investigation on the possible smuggling of sanctioned fertilisers from Belarus. The authority says that it has seized 3,000 tonnes of urea fertiliser worth 2 million...Read more
‘Belarusian schemes’ behind possible sanction circumvention on Lithuanian rail
Investigative journalists in Lithuania and Belarus claim to have exposed a series of sanction circumventions by Belarus concerning the transport of fertilisers by rail. The Lithuanian transport minister Marius Skuodis commented that broken sanction rules...Read more
Lithuania closes rail border with Belarus, too much smuggling
Starting on 16 February, Lithuania is closing the Stasylos-Byenyakoni rail border crossing with Belarus because of too many smuggling cases. Currently, therefore, the only rail border crossing left open between the two countries is Kena-Gudogai....Read more
Everyone wants to reap the fruits of INSTC
ANALYSISWhat started as a far-fetched but relatively promising route and developed into Russia’s main diversification corridor is now becoming a hot trend everyone wishes to join. It’s all about the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC)...Read more
Something is moving in Central Asia with Agroexpress rail services
The Eurasian Agroexpress project, officially launched in 2022 by member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), is here to stay and expand. In its first year of operation, the rail project scored sufficient numbers...Read more
Latvia and Lithuania pledge for collective effort on Russian rail ban
The ministers of transport from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania met for the first time in four years to discuss the ban on the transit of Russian and Belarussian goods on 23 January. Estonia, via its...Read more
Several China-Russia-Belarus route points congested, delays persist
Border crossings and rail freight terminals on the China-Russia-Belarus route have faced or are beginning to face congestion issues that could cause considerable delays along the Silk Road’s northern passage.Read more
Operail stops transport of Russian and Belarusian goods on 1 January
UPDATEThe Estonian state-owned rail freight company Operail will stop transporting cargo originating from Russia or Belarus per 1 January 2023. It made this decision earlier, in May this year, but a transition period was needed...Read more
China-Belarus freight service shifts to rail
The first train from Xiamen, in the Fujian province in southeastern China, to Minsk, in Belarus, left on Sunday 20 November. With 16 days of transit time over 10,540 kilometres, this new service is expected...Read more
More war equipment on Belarus-Russia trains, this time it’s vehicles
Bealrus and Russia are cooperating once again in transportng military equipment on the rail after they exchanged over 100,000 tonnes of ammunition between February and September. During the month of October, in fact, over 5,200...Read moreEU sanctions on Russia impact Estonia: ‘rail might disappear’
Operail, the Estonian state-owned international transport and logistics company, has halved its freight volumes in the first nine months of 2022. In addition, the decrease in freight volumes has led to the layoff of over...Read more
Rail war: 3,330 ammunition-loaded wagons between Russia-Belarus
Russia and Belarus have exchanged over 100,000 tonnes of ammunition via rail between February and September 2022. The Community of Railway Workers of Belarus’ Telegram channel, belzhd_live provided specific data on the amount of ammunition...Read more
Rail guerrillas in Russia bomb railway section to Belarus
A railway section near Novozybkov, close to the Russian borders with Belarus and Ukraine was damaged by the deployment of explosive devices. The damaged tracks are part of an important line connecting Bryansk, in Russia,...Read more