Belarusian cargo owners increasingly choose to ship their cargos through Latvia instead of Lithuania - Latvijas Dzelzcels

RIGA - More and more Belarusian cargo owners choose to ship their cargo through Latvia instead of Klaipeda in Lithuania, Edvins Berzins, CEO of Latvjas Dzelzcels (LDz, Latvian Railways) national rail company, told LETA, adding that cargos from Belarus grew by 10 percent last year.

At present, Belarusian cargos make up 27 percent of all cargos, Berzins said.

“Belarus is currently very active in cargo transportation in various directions, and I see that the representation we opened in Minsk is yielding fruit. We are planning to expand it,” Berzins said, adding that the cargo owners’ main concern is to ensure that their cargos are delivered from factories to the destination as fast as possible.

“By cooperating with Belarus, we have achieved rather significant economy, and we see that more and more owners choose to send their cargo through Latvia instead of Klaipeda in Lithuania,” the LDz CEO said.

He also indicated that a transport corridor’s competitiveness is achieved in common work. If a link in this chain is too costly or inefficient, the mosaic breaks up and part of the cargos are diverted to other corridors. Logistics professionals do not always choose the shortest way, they prefer to choose the most efficient way, Berzins said.