China cancels August and September trains to Lithuania

About China Railways mon China railway container transport corp. (CRCT) informs customers in Lithuania.

We anticipate that due to the political situation between Lithuania and China, the direct train scheduled for August 28 will be canceled. We would also like to inform you that all direct trains to Vilnius in September will also be canceled until further notice in the CRCT, written on time, where you will see BNS.

Lithuanian representatives in China say they have not yet received any official notice about the cancellation of train travel. Lithuanian transport official in China, Ramnas Rimkus, says such a Chinese decision is likely to be politically motivated.

Many large Chinese companies are state-owned and their leaders fear for their position. As a result, as soon as they learned of the distant relationship between the two countries and the recall of the Chinese ambassador for consultations, we did not have to wait long before they showed their loyalty, said R. Rimkus, BNS.

Losing those few euros after canceling direct flights to Lithuania seems like a much safer option than leaving the party, he added.

According to ACE logistics Jr. and Tomas Jankauskas, head of the rail transport division of the logistics company that transports the goods to China, such a Chinese decision will cause inconvenience, but will not produce much beer.

Before we start transporting cargo to China from Vilnius by train, we transported it to Lithuania via Poland for several years. Probably because of this situation, at least for a while, cargo flows will have to be redirected again, said T. Jankauskas, BNS.

the delivery time of the merchandise will be a little longer and the transport of cats will increase, since everything will have to be transported to other countries by trucks. However, this will not affect the flow of goods itself, he added.

Last week, the Minister of Transport and Communications, Marius Skuodis, stated that he had an indication that the growing tension between Vilnius and Beijing could lead to the transport of goods by train to China. At the same time, he emphasized that the economic relations between Lithuania and China were quite small.

Mantas Bartuka, director of Lithuanian Railways, also says that there are some obstacles to this transit, but they are unnecessary quantities. According to him, the share of Chinese cargo in the total flow of Lithuanian railways is only a small percentage, but the company believes that autumn cargo to China may increase.

Regular freight train trips to Vilnius, China will begin in June 2020.

China called its ambassador in Vilnius last week for consultations on Lithuania’s deeper relationship with Taiwan. The Foreign Ministry states that such decision was motivated by the desire to open a Taiwanese representative office in Lithuania.

For several weeks, Taiwan reported on the establishment of a representative office in Lithuania, separate from China, which should start operating in the summer. Lithuania should also open a sales office in Taiwan.

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