UKRAINE: The LTG Cargo Ukraine subsidiary of the Lithuanian national railway’s freight division is changing its business model from September, and will now focus on locomotive and wagon leasing services rather than freight forwarding.
‘We established LTG Cargo Ukraine with the aim of strengthening the logistics and supply chains between Lithuania and Ukraine’, LTG Cargo CEO Eglė Šimė said on August 20. ’There are almost 500 Lithuanian wagons in Ukraine, and by transferring them to LTG Cargo Ukraine, we will ensure their effective utilisation by leasing them to customers.
‘Railways remain an extremely important supply line for a country at war, there is a need for rolling stock, and in the future, we will also contribute to the reconstruction of Ukraine in this way.’
Šimė said Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 had slowed down the implementation of LTG Cargo Ukraine’s strategy, but the company had since made a significant contribution to establishing new logistics chains avoiding congested roads at the Polish border and creating new routes for grain transport.
Most of the wagons which will be available for lease are covered vans or container wagons. There are also two ChME3 shunting locomotives, which have been modernised in Vilnius and will be transported to Ukraine for lease to private terminals.
LTG Cargo Ukraine is to be allocated a further 120 wagons in the future, as well as a pool of 2M62K main line locomotives.
The delivery of Stadler EuroDual electric locomotives which LTG Cargo has ordered as part of Lithuania’s electrification programme could also enable its current Siemens diesel locomotives to be transferred to Ukraine.
