Belaruskali cargo to go via Lithuania until January

Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai (Lithuanian Railways, LG), the country's state-owned railway company, will carry fertilizers produced by Belarusian company Belaruskali, the world's biggest producer and exporter of potash fertilizers, via Lithuania to the country's port of Klaipeda in December, the railway company said on Wednesday.

The group's freight company LTG Cargo is estimated to transport around 1 million tons of fertilizers in December, meaning that some 6 to 9 freight trains will move via Lithuania's territory every day as they do now.

Under the existing contract, the Belarusian company made prepayments to LG for those shipments.

The news comes as the US sanctions for Belaruskali, announced in August, fully come into force on December 8.

Whether LG will continue providing these services to the Belarusian company further will depend on the sanction regime, state institutions' decisions and banks' decisions to service transactions, according to the statement.

LG is consulting Lithuanian, EU and US institutions, including the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Treasury Department, regarding the existing situation.

Up until now, LTG Cargo gas carried over 10 million tons of Belaruskali cargo a year for around 60 million euros.

LTG Cargo hopes to carry more cargo not only in Lithuania but also in Poland and Ukraine, and is also awaiting new opportunities once the Rail Baltic European gauge-standard railway project is completed.