VILNIUS, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Freight volumes on Lithuania's railway network fell by 5.8 percent last year to 25.7 million tons, reaching their lowest level since 2019, the Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) of Lithuania reported on Thursday.
Measured in net ton-kilometers, freight transport declined 2.4 percent year-on-year to 6.24 billion.
The downturn was most severe in intermodal transport, which plummeted 55.1 percent to 360.5 million net ton-kilometers. The CRA noted this drop reflects a broader slowdown across the freight sector.
Geopolitical challenges, particularly European Union sanctions on Belarus and Russia, remained the primary obstacles for the industry. International freight volumes fell 19.9 percent last year, including an 18.8 percent decrease in transit shipments.
Despite the slump, two new operators - Lithuania's Transachema and Poland's Orlen Kolej - began operations in the country last year, and several other companies conducted trial runs, according to the Baltic News Service (BNS).
The CRA said it expects both the number of market participants and freight volumes to grow in the coming years. ■
