Lithuania mulls route to transport Ukrainian grains via Belarus

If the world community can talk about the lack of food in the world because it is impossible to export Ukrainian grains, then we need to unblock the ports of Ukraine - BNS to allow ships to leave. The second option is to use existing infrastructure and transport grains via Belarus, which would allow us to use the full capacity of the port of Klaipeda, as well as the capacity of Latvian and Estonian ports. This would require a certain humanitarian corridor via Belarus, Skuodis told reporters on Tuesday.

The minister said that there are conversations on such a corridor but it should be the responsibility of international institutions, including the United Nations or the European Commission.

The transportation minister said that if a Ukrainian shipment came from Belarus, we would certainly accept it, as the talks on the corridor BNS are going on, but it is first of all the duty of international institutions to reach certain agreements.

The main problem of transporting Ukrainian grains to Lithuania bypassing Belarus is the undeveloped railway infrastructure in the western direction, with only 2 to 3 trains a day going to Lithuania via Poland.

The port of Klaipeda is capable of handling quite large amounts, some 8 million tons, excluding the Biriu Kroviniu Terminalas Bulk Cargo Terminal, and with investment into capacity, this could be increased. The minister said that due to infrastructural constraints in Poland, we can now bring 1 -- 1.5 million tons of Ukrainian grain per year to Lithuania.

Logistics between Ukraine and Lithuania are undermined by different railway gauges as the Russian gauge is still used in Ukraine and Lithuania, while the European gauge is used in Poland, so rolling stock needs to be changed when transporting goods.

Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai Lithuanian Railways, LTG, the country's state-owned railway company, sent a pilot train to Ukraine in early May, and it is scheduled to bring various goods in containers from Ukraine via Poland to Kaunas. If the route is successful, it will be used to transport grains.