First container train with Ukrainian rapeseed arrives at the port of Riga

Last week, a test train with Ukrainian grain products was received and unloaded at Rīgas Universālais Termināls (RUT), which was delivered to the Freeport of Riga by a subsidiary of the Latvian Railways – SIA “LDZ CARGO”. This was reported by VAS “Latvijas dzelzceļš”.

1423 tons of rapeseed were delivered from Ukraine in 54 containers. They arrived from Ukraine to Kaunas intermodal railway terminal, where they were loaded on the platforms of SIA “LDZ CARGO” to continue the journey to Riga. The Ukrainian rapeseed is currently being unloaded and stored at RUT’s warehouses.

“Since the beginning of the full-scale war, the terminals of the Port of Riga have been actively working on the transportation of Ukrainian grain products, but until now they have been delivered to the port by road, which cannot be compared to rail in terms of traffic volume. Several terminals in the Port of Riga would be fully prepared in terms of technological and infrastructural capabilities to accept and efficiently handle container trains with Ukrainian grain. We hope that this first test for the entire logistics chain will be successful and that from now on we will regularly receive trains with Ukrainian grain in the port of Riga,” said Ancis Zeltins, Freeport of Riga manager.

Acceptance of grain in containers is a new experience for the Port of Riga terminals. Edgars Rudzitis, Head of Liquid Bulk Warehouses at RUT, emphasized that the terminal is ready to receive grain container trains from Ukraine, it has the necessary technologies for handling containers, as well as warehouses and the appropriate infrastructure for liquid bulk cargo.

“Over the past year and a half, this is the first cargo from Ukraine to pass through our infrastructure, and I think this is a very important event. We have repeatedly confirmed that the capacity of the Latvian railway infrastructure and SIA LDZ CARGO allows us to transport and handle large volumes of cargo, including grain from Ukraine. In line with the current situation, we have created new options for cargo transportation and plan to develop these freight transportation solutions in the future so that the cargo transportation of grain and other products between Ukraine and Latvia can take place regularly,” said Rinalds Plavnieks, Chairman of the Board of VAS “Latvijas dzelzceļš”.

The containers were shipped from Ukraine on September 25, on October 8 they were loaded onto the platforms of SIA LDZ CARGO in Kaunas, and on October 11 the platforms arrived at the port of Riga and unloading began at the Riga Universal Terminal. The rail transportation was organized by SIA LDZ CARGO in cooperation with the customer SIA LTG Cargo Ukraina under a cooperation agreement concluded in November 2022.

As previously reported, Latvian railways may join the export of Ukrainian agricultural products.

Tags: Ukraine, rapeseed, container shipping, Latvia