Lithuania is located on the very crossroads of three huge markets. It’s a springboard to the common EU market (Western Europe and Nordic countries), and the Eastern markets (Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States) are also just at Lithuania’s side. The country has become the EU’s prime transport centre. The EU has recognized Lithuania as the prime transport centre in the region and number of companies are employing the infrastructure to serve customers in the EU and beyond.

The best roads in the region

Though small in size, Lithuania boasts a 21,000 kilometers road system – known to be the best in the region. Lithuania is committed to investing additional EUR 145 million into the Via Baltica international highway and around EUR 100 million into four public logistics centres.

Ice-free seaport at Klaipėda

The northern-most ice-free port in the Baltic Sea is capable of handling over 40 million tons of cargo annually. Klaipėda is a multipurpose, universal, deep-water port with 26 stevedoring companies and annual handling capacity of 650 000 TEUs. The port operates 24 hours, 7 days/week all year round; It fully complies with the ISPS Code and has ample storage facilities. Maersk, APL, MSC and Hapag Lloyd are some of the port's major clients.

Pan-European transport corridors

Major Trans European Network (TEN) corridors cross Lithuania. The North-South VIA BALTICA highway and the RAIL BALTICA railway, connecting Scandinavia with Central Europe, as well as the East-West route linking the huge Eastern markets with the rest of Europe, are among the ten most important transport corridors in Europe, according to the EU Transportation Commission.

Lithuanian railways transport around 48 million tons cargo per year. The country has a modern railway network and a fully renewed locomotives fleet. The Lithuanian railway uses two types of rail gauges – the wide gauge (1520 mm) and the narrow gauge (1435 mm), which is a significant competitive advantage in providing transport intermediation services. Lithuania also offers services of its shuttle train “Viking”, which connects the Black and the Baltic seas (the train starts its 1734 km journey in Ilyichevsk port, goes through Kiev, Minsk, Vilnius and reaches Klaipėda in 55 hours).

In November 2011 another transcontinental route – a shuttle cargo train Saulė – was launched linking Lithuania and China through Kazakhstan. The carriage of cargoes from China to Europe by sea takes 40 days, while the container train Saulė reaches its destination in days. The train goes through Russia and Belarus, onwards transporting goods to Scandinavian and other European countries via the Klaipėda seaport.

Three International airports

The three strategically situated international airports - in Vilnius, Kaunas and Palanga - offer superb facilities for passenger and cargo traffic. With its longest runway (3500 meters), Šiauliai airport is also engaged in organizing cargo build-up, loading/unloading to the aircraft operations.

Multimodal logistics centres

There are around 700,000 m² of warehousing facilities in Lithuania. The biggest supply of new, modern warehousing facilities is in the capital city Vilnius (around 334,000 m²), Kaunas is in the second place (around 184,300 m²) and Klaipėda - in the third (123,600 m²).

Transport & logistics services

• Transportation
• Logistics solutions
• Warehousing
• Customs brokerage

Transport & logistics - key competitive advantages

• Convenient geographical location
• Strong support by public sector
• Relatively low prices compared with Western European and Scandinavian countries
• Most of companies are younger than 5 years
• High quality, complying with the requirements of EU and Asia
• Western business practices combined with high competitiveness of Eastern Europe
• Modern technologies for stock records, surveillance from shipment to delivery

The sector's leaders include DSV, DB Schenker, DFDS, DHL, etc. For success stories please click here.

DSV TRANSPORT - With a 12,000 sq m terminal, offices in Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipėda and a solid network of business partners, DSV Transport UAB, a subsidiary of the largest Danish transport and logistics group, is one of the largest providers of transport and logistics services in Lithuania. Due to the country's favorable geographic location and excellent infrastructure, Lithuania’s DSV has been successfully expanding its business activities.

Contact information

For questions or more information about the Lithuanian Transport and Logistics sector or for identifying suitable partner companies, please do not hesitate to contact:

Ramūnas Baltaduonis
Project manager

Enterprise Lithuania
A. Gostauto st. 40A
LT-01112
Vilnius, Lithuania
Tel: +370 (5) 2194315
Email: r.baltaduonis@enterpriselithuania.com