Transit of Belarusian potash via Russian ports is being discussed amid Lithuania’s rejection of trains bound for the port of Klaipeda
Belarus, which encountered Lithuania’s decision to stop the transit of Belarusian potash by trains bound for the port of Klaipeda, has not put forward any initiatives on construction of port facilities in the Leningrad Region this year, the regional authorities said in response to IAA PortNews’ inquiry.
“A possibility of building a port terminal by Belorussian companies in the Leningrad Region was discussed in 2021 but no final decision on the project implementation was made. This year, the Belorussian side has not put forward any initiatives on construction of port facilities”, said press center of the Leningrad Region Government.
In a recent interview with Vladimir Soloviev, the President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, said that amid Lithuania’s ban on transit of Belarusian potash, the Russian side had provided a site for development of additional infrastructure aimed at expansion of Russian ports’ facilities for handling of Belorussian potash.
“We are building it at our own expense”, said Aleksandr Lukashenko adding that the project is being implemented by a private investor from Balarus but not revealing the location of the construction site.
The scope of handling is estimated at 11-12 million tonnes. Minsk expects the shipments to begin in 2023 with the construction to be fully completed by 2024.
On 1 February 2022, Lithuanian Railways (Lietuvos gelezinkeliai, LTG) terminated the contract with Belaruskali JSC on transportation of Belaruskali cargo. The decision of the Lithuanian company should be attributed to the EU sanctions against Minsk.
On 1 February 2022, Belarus Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko confirmed rejection of Belarusian trains with potassium fertilisers bound for the port of Klaipeda. According to him, the flows of potassium chloride will then be redirected to Russian ports adding that Minsk had been preparing for this for a long time. However, the capacity of facilities available in Russian ports is not enough to handle 12 million tonnes of cargo.
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