The Ukraine and Lithuania want to extend the transit route “Viking” to the North and to the South
2010 12 09
The Ukraine and Lithuania are interested in extending the transit railway route “Viking” to the North and to the South. This was said at the press conference on the outcomes of the 12th meeting of the intergovernmental Ukrainian – Lithuanian Commission by Dainius Kreivys, the Lithuanian Minister of the Economy.
“Both parties are interested in extending this transit route inviting to join other countries as well, such as Turkey, and going further to Jordan and Libya. It is also possible to direct the route to the North European countries” – he said. According to the assessment of D. Kreivys, the perspective of the cargo transportation by this route is really very big.
The Ukrainian Minister of Transport and Communication Konstantin Jefimenko noted that negotiations with Turkey are currently taking place on its participation in the project “Viking”. Moreover, he added, that it is related to ferry crossings of already formed wagon trains to the ports of the Ukraine and Turkey.
At the initial stage discussions are related to one such train per week. K. Jefimenko specified that currently some 3 trains of 50 wagons per week are commuting via the “Viking” route.
As reported earlier, “Viking” is a train of combined transport commuting from the port Klaipëda (Lithuania) to the Ukrainian ports of Iljichevsk and Odessa, which started in 2003. The train is carrying 20- and 40- feet containers, as well as trailers and road trains arriving in Klaipëda from Scandinavian countries and West Europe by sea transport and via ferry crossings “Klaipëda – Mukran” (Germany). The total length of the line “Viking” is 1733 km, the average annual transportation – 400 thousand TEU (the twenty-foot equivalent unit).
Material has been prepared by the Centre of Geopolitical Studies with reference to the article from «УкрАгроКонсалт» of 07 12 2010 | 
Print version
