And again we didn't think about it ... When we banned the transportation of Belarusian fertilizers by rail, the Belarusians answered us the same way - they banned the transportation of cargo from Lithuania by rail

Šimonytė thought that Belarusians would gently, like cats, sue us  for breaking the fertilizer contract. After all, the accountant Šimonytė still knows about the courts, but she doesn't understand public policy. In a free market, everyone will try to avoid the obstacles that are now emerging in Lithuania. Losses will fall on Klaipėda port, Lithuanian railways, and Lithuanian exporters. We'll have to wait a long time for lower taxes, if at all:

 

    "After the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Wednesday a ban on the transit of rail freight from Lithuania, a representative of the Lithuanian Railways (LTG) confirmed to the BNS that the company had received a letter confirming this from the Railway Transport Council, which unites about 20 railway companies from different countries.

 

    According to Mantas Dubauskas, the ban will be applied to transport oil products and fertilizers from Lithuania via Belarus. It will take effect on February 7th.

 

    Whether the ban will apply to non-transit cargo, he said he could not say.

 

    Lithuanian Railways has previously reported to BNS that after rejecting empty potassium fertilizer wagons still returning to Belarus, an average of 18 trains a day depart from Lithuania to Belarus from 1 February.

 

    "It is planned that in February, about 30 percent of the trains (5-6) crossing the Lithuanian-Belarusian border on the Lithuanian side should consist of trains loaded at Lithuanian stations, and most of them would go to Belarus, Russia, Ukraine,” - the company said in a comment to BNS.

 

    According to the company, the trains formed in Lithuania mainly transport oil products, fertilizers and ferrous metals. Oil products and nitrogen fertilizers are transported to Ukraine via Belarus by Orlen Lietuva and Jonava Achema.

 

    Some Lithuanian exporters claim that they are already directing their cargo through Poland.

 

    In response to the actions of Belarus, some of the country's manufacturers are already trying new routes through Poland, says Vaidotas Šileika, President of the Association of Lithuanian Stevedoring Companies (LJKKA). According to him, Lithuanian carriers could transport cargo by trucks or rail through Latvia or Poland (more expensive method).

 

    "One of them is to transfer part of the cargo from rail to road and bypass Belarus or, if transit for road transport is not closed, to cross Belarus by road. Another solution is to bypass Belarus and try to transport cargo by rail through Latvia, but it is doubtful whether sufficient transit cargo capacity will be ensured on this route. Another alternative is cargo transportation through Poland, which has been tested by some Lithuanian manufacturers," - he said in a comment to the media.

 

    V. Šileika says that blocking the way for transit through Belarus could disrupt 2-3 million tons or even higher cargo flow from Klaipėda port.

 

    "This would mean quite big losses for Klaipėda port and companies there. Currently, about 2-3 mln. tons of a wide range of cargo: chemical products, fertilizers, agricultural products, metal products, equipment, various cargo in containers, etc. If we add the flow of cargo transported by road, which crosses Belarus, the volume of cargo would be significantly higher,” - says V. Šileika.

 

    According to him, it is not clear whether the train "Viking", which transports containers to Klaipėda port, will be stopped.

 

    "This is a joint project of Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine, the fate of which is also unclear. Today, this train is quite loaded and carries a number of containers. However, the question is what the future holds for it, whether this train will be allowed into Belarus and the project will be continued, or whether it will also be stopped,” - says the President of LJKKA.

 

    According to V. Šileika, the supply chain would become more expensive due to such alternatives, therefore it is natural that cargo owners would start considering whether to choose Klaipėda port for their transportation.

 

    At that time, Jonava nitrogen fertilizer manufacturer Achema assured that such a move by Minsk would cause it problems.

 

    Ramūnas Miliauskas, CEO of Achema, told BNS on Tuesday that the company is constantly transporting its products to Ukraine via Belarus, which would cause it serious problems.

 

    "If Belarus decides not to accept railway transport from Lithuania, it would cause serious difficulties for both us and our customers. The closure of the borders with Belarus would have to cancel existing and future contracts with customers or divert production logistics through Latvia, which would undoubtedly increase logistics costs and increase the financial burden for us and our customers,” - the head of the company said in a comment to BNS.

 

    BNS has not yet received a comment from Orlen Lietuvos. Michalas Rudnickis, the CEO of the company, last year BNS said that it had already tested alternative rail freight to Ukraine, via Poland instead of Belarus, and that it was already transporting about 8% of products throughout this new route.

 

     "We wanted to try and prove that there is such an alternative. The route is not longer, but less convenient, because the rolling stock needs to be changed twice," - said M. Rudnickis this time."

 

People, think when you vote. Not all accountants (Grybauskaitė, Nausėda, Šimonytė) are suitable for state administration.