Latvia

The Baltic-Transit project started in 2003 is considered an intermodal (land, rail, sea) transportation chain currently providing a Baltic to Asia transport connections between Kalingrad, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Russia and Kazakhstan. Leadership of the project has come 66% from the Latvian railway with Estonia contributing about 30%.

From the Baltic ports to Central Asia, the Russian operator Transsiberian Intermodal Service (TIS) has provided a stable flow of container traffic. Within the first eight months of the project an additional 31 routes were created, moving 604 platforms and cars, and 1297 containers. In 2004 and 2005 the number of routes increased to 61 and 76 respectively.

During a February meeting of railway leaders in Riga, discussions took place around the actual performance of the Baltic-Transit project in 2005 and the possibility of enlargement in the future. The leaders of the Baltic railways agreed a commitment to also start shipping from Asia by the end of 2006. Other targets included speeding up railway movement to move trains from the Baltic coast to Kazakhstan in as little as 4.5 days from the current 7 days.

A Decade in the Baltics

The Baltic Times