Beijing - Brussels caravan has already arrived in Vilnius

12.10.2005. After 7 hours of travel departing from a hospitable Riga the international truck caravan has reached Vilnius, capital of Lithuania

Vilnius - At the press conference on the occasion of the caravan arrival in Vilnius, Mrs L. Zumeriene, Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Transport, commented that the ongoing initiative aimed at delivering goods from China to the EU countries is of great importance for Lithuania. In Lithuania, road transport operations account for 10% of national income, employs over 6% of the population, and counts more than 2000 firms.

Mr A. Kondrusevicius, President, Lithuanian Association of International Road Carriers, said that interest of Latvian and Lithuanian international road operators and business representatives in the caravan transporting goods from Asia-Pacific to the CIS and Europe is justified. With their sea ports they can make the link in intermodal transport between Asia and Europe.

The commercial truck caravan entered the European Union territory where Customs procedures are minimised thus allowing to save much time. The transit through the territories of Kazakhstan, Russia and Latvia offered the opportunity to draw preliminary conclusions concerning some drawbacks of the initiative. In the opinion of caravan driver I. Birniks, Kazakhstan has too few parking facilities along the itinerary and their equipment leaves much to be desired. When the caravan entered the Russian territory, Customs control of the caravan took 16 hours. Much time and effort were spent to obtain visas for the drivers. These issues were discussed at the press conferences held during the caravan’s journey.

However, participants of the caravan are unanimous: road transport can and should intensify its participation in goods carriage from China. Mrs D. Bagdasarova, Director, Latvian Pantera-I company which owns a participating truck, said that her partners, made aware of the project of goods transport by road from China, approached her to place their orders.

The fact that public bodies, business community and mass media have been paying much attention to the caravan’s journey proves the road transport‘s importance in developing national economies not only through the delivery of goods, but also by drawing attention to infrastructure problems and administrative barriers, thus helping tackle social issues.