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New rail link to Moscow launched
A new rail link between Liepaja (Latvia) and Moscow (Russia) was launched on October 5th. The new service will serve as an alternative to truck transportation that has been experiencing significant delays due to difficulties at the Latvia-Russia border crossing. This new rail link will cut Liepaja-Moscow delivery times to 48 hours.
Mr Martin Dale (from the left), the representative of Containerships Latvia, and Mr Ainars Slesers, the Minister of Transport of Latvia, during the opening event.
The operator of the new service is Rail 45. The company expects that the initial plan for one 41-container (45 feet) block train per week will be increased to 4 trains per week by the end of 2008 due to the growth in demand.
Rail 45 has two main customers at the moment. Both are short sea operators - Van Dieren Maritime (owned by Samskip) and Containerships (owned by Eimskip). Other customers are local companies from Liepaja that do exports to the Moscow area.
The new rail service will not be detrimental to volumes in other Baltic ports as the target customers are those presently availing themselves of overland trailers. The transit potential with Russia is far from being exhausted. A port representative stated that, if successful, the project may lead to the construction of a new container terminal in Liepaja.
For more information on the new service and potential cooperation possibilities, please contact:
Mr Kristaps Kulpe
Operations Director
Rail45 Ltd
k.kulpe@rail45.com
