Due to the drop in freight, Latvian Railway (LDz) could terminate approximately 600 more employees, as LTV programme Rīta panorāma was told by Latvian Minister of Transport Tālis Linkaits on Thursday, 31 March.
«The initial estimate suggests 600 more employees could be terminated,» said the minister, adding that LDz has been ordered to prepare the best case and worst case scenario and an appropriate action plan for each. An action plan could be presented around May.
Linkaits said it will not be possible to fully replace freight from Russia and Belarus. However, the ministry is hard at work negotiating with countries like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and China to secure freight.
The minister also said in March the volume of freight carried by rail may increase 30% when compared to the same period of last year. This can be explained with the wish of owners to carry their freight out of Russia as soon as possible.
«Once this inertia is over, we can preserve transit freight coming in from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan,» said the minister.
He also said that from autumn last year Latvia has been actively carrying coal freights from Kazakhstan. The country has announced plans to divert to Latvia the freight that normally goes through St. Petersburg sea port in Russia. «The first freight should arrive in Latvia around mid-April. Then we will see how things turn out,» said Linkaits.
According to information from LDz, considering the trends observed with freight transports, the procedure of reviewing the concern’s operations continued in 2021. It is under this procedure the company was forced to terminate some of its employees. In 2021 the average number of employees in LDz concern was 7 151, which is 1 388 fewer employees when compared to 2020.
Linkaits said in a previous interview that due to EU sanctions for Russia, in the worst case scenario the volume of freights carried on Latvian railway could drop by 85%.
The minister also said in this year’s crop season LDz will provide at least 600 railway wagons for grain carriers.
«LDz has guaranteed that at least 600 railway wagons will be put in use when the grain season arrives,» said the minister, adding that if need be a larger number of railway wagons will be provided.
Linkaits also said LDz concern has approximately 1 100 railway wagons reserved for grains, and all of them are currently in use. «None of them are standing idle in Latvia. If someone wants to import grains to Latvia during crop harvests, someone has to pay for it,» he said.
The Farmers Saeima Association previously invited the Ministry of Transport to call back LDz’s owned railway grain wagons from Russia.
«We believe in the current geopolitical situation the minister of transport should make it his political objective to return all railway wagons owned by LDz back to Latvia,» said board member of Farmers Saeima Mārtiņš Trons, who added that this way it will be possible to ensure successful export of grains produced in Latvia, which means a considerable contribution to the national economy.
He said that, according to official information from the Ministry of Transport, the number of railway wagons reserved for grains was about 900. This autumn it could reach 600. But according to unofficial information, the number of available railway wagons may be a mere 300 this year.
According to information from Trons, LDz owns approximately 1 100 grain wagons that are usually rented out to Russia, Kazakhstan and other countries outside the grain season. In the current geopolitical situation involving war in Ukraine, the association has concerns those wagons may not be able to return to Latvia before the start of the season, which risks creating a catastrophic situation for grain transports.
Latvian Railway could terminate 600 more employees
