There are now rail ferries serving the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. Rail wagons are put on ships to transport goods to and from Saint Petersburg. Earlier, Russia expressed the desire to distance itself entirely from the EU rail network, reducing its dependence on Lithuania in particular.
“A multimodal transport and logistics product for the delivery of goods to the Saint Petersburg-Finlyandsky station and in the opposite direction has started operating on the Kaliningrad Railway”, the regional Russian Railways subsidiary says. “Its implementation will ensure a stable flow of goods to and from the westernmost region of Russia, and will also allow for the optimal use of the capacity of sea railway ferries for the transportation of rolling stock.”
This new setup for Kaliningrad logistics has a downside: It is rather slow. Delivery times can last from ten up to twenty days.
Fewer Russian goods on EU rail
Earlier, EU sanctions limited the amount of freight that Russia could transport to its exclave Kaliningrad via rail. Road transportation was not a viable alternative, because the EU does not allow sanctioned goods on trucks. As a result of the sanctions, the rail transit volume through Lithuania shrunk by 30 per cent in 2024. Only the quota for cement supplies reportedly grew by 20,000 tonnes.
Currently, there are around 30 ships providing freight transportation services to Kaliningrad from Russia. With the newly announced service, four rail ferries have started operating on the route.
Last year, Russia announced plans to build extra rail ferries to send rail freight to the exclave across the Baltic Sea. The head of the region said at the time that he wanted to achieve “total independence” from the EU for logistics needs. By the end of 2024, the volume of subsidies to support sea shipping to Kaliningrad amounted to 4,6 billion rubles (48 million euros).