Transport & Logistics
One of the advantages of this country is being located on the border between East and West and having transit routes. In our business we are focusing more on the transit routes, and Lithuania’s excellent geographical location has made Lithuania a transit country.
Henrik Mųller, Hydro Texaco
Trans-European corridors
The EU Transportation Commission designated the two routes running through Lithuania, the North-South highway, and the rail route connecting Scandinavia with Central Europe, as well as the East-West route linking the huge eastern markets with the rest of Europe, as being among the ten most important in Europe.
Railway network
Lithuania has a well-developed railway network running a total of 1,750 kilometres. The track is broad gauge, and provides direct connections to Latvia, Poland, Belarus, and Russia (the Kaliningrad Region) as well as a link to Poland. Lithuania is also connected to Asia and China via rail.
Best roads in the region
Though small in size, Lithuania boasts a 21,000 kilometres road system, 2/3 of which is paved with asphalt concrete. The roads are well-maintained and continuous improvements facilitate the ease of use year-round. Roads in Lithuania are known to be the best in the region. Lithuania is committed to investing 145 million EUR into the Via Baltica international highway, and around 100 million EUR into three public logistics centers, which will make up a total area of nearly 970 hectares in Lithuania’s three largest cities.
Ice-free seaport
The Klaipėda seaport is the northern-most ice-free port in the Baltic Sea, and is capable of handling over 40 million tonnes of cargo annually. Currently the Klaipėda seaport is capable of handling dry-cargo carriers up to 80,000 DWT, and tankers up to 150,000 DWT. Lithuania is planning further expansion of the port, and will invest 1 billion EUR to construct an outer, deep-water seaport.
International airports
The three strategically located international civilian airports are located in Vilnius, Kaunas, and Palanga. They provide superb facilities to conduct passenger or cargo traffic.
Logistics centres
As new foreign developers have continued to ‘discover’ the Lithuanian market, the country’s northern, western, south-eastern and north-eastern regions have been undergoing construction of logistics centres. The greatest supply of modern warehousing facilities in 2009 remains in Vilnius (341,800 sqm, growth – 17,8%), with Kaunas following in second place (160,200 sqm, growth – 0,13%), and Klaipeda in third (103,800 sqm, growth – 23,5%). The overall supply of modern warehousing facilities in Lithuania in 2009 accounted for approximately 634,000 sqm.
Lithuania’s Transport and logistics sector:
- Lithuania is the prime transport centre in the region linking the EU with the East (EU Transportation Commission);
- two transport corridors (I and IX B) and their branches (IA and IXD) (80 % of European freight is transported via international transport corridors crossing Lithuania);
- container handling leader and the northernmost ice-free seaport on the eastern cost of the Baltic sea – Klaipėda State Seaport:
- annual cargo turnover of 30 million; i.e. also more than all ports of Ireland combined.
- the best road system in the region;
- 3 international airports;
- 3 international and regionally important public logistic centres under construction;
- 80,000 employees;
- 33,000 trucks.
Please find out more about the latest trends and business opportunities in Lithuania’s Transport & Logistics sector in the newest overview prepared by "Invest Lithuania" and "Enterprise Lithuania" analysts.
For more information on the sector please see website www.stat.gov.lt
