Lithuania and Poland are planning additional transport connections and corridor for Ukrainian freight transport to Baltic seaports
On 6-7 June, the 3Seas Local Government Congress and the Economic Forum held in Lublin (Poland) discussed the development of the Baltic Sea–Black Sea/Aegean corridor in the new geopolitical context, says press center of Lithuania’s Ministry of Transport and Communications. The development of this corridor to the territory of Lithuania and the cooperation of the countries in the transport of Ukrainian products through Poland to the Baltic seaports were discussed at the bilateral meeting between the Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications of Lithuania Julius Skačkauskas and the Minister of Infrastructure of Poland Andrzej Adamczyk. This was further discussed in the Economic Forum.
“The North-South transport corridor connecting the three seas — the Baltic, Black and Aegean — is more important than ever and must be multimodal, connecting both roads and European gauge railways. We support Poland’s proposal to extend this transport corridor to Lithuania. The current geopolitical situation dictates the need to also foresee new, additional transport corridors and infrastructure connections between Lithuania and Poland, ensuring alternatives to the priority projects of Rail Baltica and Via Baltica. One such possibility is the development of the road through Lazdijai, which would allow to create two strategic connections across the border between Lithuania and Poland, to strengthen logistics chains and military mobility,” said Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications J. Skačkauskas.
According to the Deputy Minister, the alternative road transport connection could go from Białystok through Augustów and Lazdijai, further connect with the North-Baltic Sea Corridor branch linking Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, and further to the North — Latvia and Estonia. The aim of Lithuania and Poland is to integrate this road into the TEN-T trans-European transport network and to adapt it to military mobility.
The heads of Lithuanian and Polish ministries discussed cooperation in coordinating the transportation of Ukrainian agricultural and industrial products through the territory of Poland to Lithuanian and Latvian ports. It was agreed that urgent non-standard action is needed in order to help Ukraine export its production in this extraordinary situation.
Coordination involves the creation of transit corridors bypassing Belarus to transport goods under minimum checks and accelerated customs procedures, minimising existing infrastructure and bureaucratic obstacles. It is important that transport companies are involved in this process and that operators work to coordinate freight transport, allocate transport capacity and establish timetables. At present, additional efforts are needed in the new planning of logistics routes, as well as additional resources — platforms, wagons, locomotives, loading equipment, etc. The countries envisage specific solutions of varying complexity that could speed up Ukraine’s freight transport process.
The Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications of Lithuania J. Skačkauskas and the Minister of Infrastructure of Poland A. Adamczyk also discussed cooperation between the countries in the implementation of the Rail Baltica project, reconstruction of the Lithuanian-Polish border roads and other relevant issues in the transport sector. The possibility to ensure a passenger train connection between Vilnius and Warsaw already this year was discussed.