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The results of LTG Cargo, a freight transport company of LTG Group carrying out westward diversification, for the first half of this year show that rail transport in Lithuania, which accounts for more than half of the total traffic, has been growing steadily, the market for project cargo has been growing, and transport through the Baltic States by using only the company’s capacity has started.

“Although the overall traffic was still affected by the interruption of shipments from Russia and Belarus, the expanding range of sanctions aimed at stopping the supply of raw materials to the war machine, and our increased screening, we can see that our efforts to make the railway the backbone of the transport system are bearing fruit. We are increasing the volume of local traffic, the amount of project cargo is growing, and we are transporting on new international routes — for example, for the first time in history, a train of LTG Cargo transported cargo from Bugeniai in Lithuania to Valga in Estonia,” says Eglė Šimė, CEO at LTG Cargo.

In the first half of this year, LTG Cargo transported 12.2 million tonnes of freight, of which 7.1 million tonnes were transported in the territory of Lithuania alone, which means that 58.5% of LTG Cargo’s total transport volume was local traffic. By comparison, in the first half of 2023, domestic transport amounted to 7 million tonnes, accounting for 53.4% of total shipments, and, compared to the same period in 2022, domestic shipments increased by as much as one fifth. The growth in transport in Lithuania was mainly driven by an increase in shipments of construction materials, partly offsetting a drop in shipments of chemical and mineral fertilisers, as well as by a rise in rail transport of grain.

At the same time, the company’s sales revenue in the first half of the year amounted to EUR 151 million and was 9.5% higher than in the same period last year (almost EUR 138 million). Freight transport accounted for almost three quarters of sales revenue this year.

In the first half of 2024, project cargo volumes grew significantly, with 94 rail transports of military equipment on both the broad gauge and European gauge networks. For comparison, 145 train movements in total took place in 2023.

After winning an international tender launched by Orlen Lietuva, the operator of the oil refinery in Mažeikiai, LTG Cargo launched in March a regular service between Bugeniai (Lithuania) and Valga (Estonia) across the three Baltic States. These transports are carried out entirely within LTG Cargo’s capacity as LTG Cargo provides all logistics solutions for the route independently. This is a significant event for the development of not only the company, but also of the entire Baltic logistics system.

This year, LTG Cargo transported NATO military equipment for the first time from Valga in Estonia to the Trakiškiai station on the Polish border without any other rail partners.

In order to meet the needs of customers, new rolling stock is being acquired and the existing fleet is being optimised. In the first half of this year, purchases of 500 wagons for grain, 200 gondolas for bulk and other weather-resistant loads took place, and the acquisition of electric locomotives continued. Modernisation of the freight wagon repair depot in Radviliškis also got underway.

LTG Cargo is an LTG Group company, which is currently continuing its active integration and expansion efforts in the West. The company provides freight transport, logistics and freight forwarding, freight loading, locomotive and wagon repair and wagon rental services in Lithuania and abroad. LTG Cargo has established and manages LTG Cargo Polska in Poland and LTG Cargo Ukraine in Ukraine. The company has a team of 1,800 logistics professionals to develop greener rail freight transport. LTG Cargo

transported 27.2 million tonnes of freight in 2023. The company’s revenue last year was approximately EUR 286 million and net profit was EUR 17.5 million.