УПРАВЛЕНИЕ И УСТОЙЧИВО РАЗВИТИЕ 2/2011 (29) MANAGEMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 2/2011 (29)

MAIN PROBLEMS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSIT TRANSPORT VIA

Jānis Kuškins Riga Technical University, Riga, Latvia

Abstract

Transit in Latvia is often considered as a branch. The traditional modes of transport in Latvia include road transport, railroad transport, air transport, water transport and pipeline transport. In Latvia there has been made a relatively balanced transport net that in the whole insures the transportation of cargo and traffic of passengers. Transit development is based on two major markets - the European Union and the CIS and Asian markets service. As an important precondition in transit development is considered the simplifying of border crossing procedures. Poor road conditions reduced transit operation traffic. EU railway systems shortage in Latvia

Key words: transporting, overload of transport infrastructure, transit, infrastructure of logistics.

Introduction facilities (roads, hubs and parking places) thus Transporting is a service to be bought by its being related to passenger delivery and delivery user. Unlike the manufacturing of goods, trans- of goods. The solution for passenger delivery portation entails the combination of location and might be found by increasing density of public time. It means that if the supply is delayed, the transport and not affecting the distance between demand can disappear. It should be stressed that the living and working places, but by bringing keeping to the schedule is a must in rendering nearer shops and entertainment places to inhab- transportation services. Consequently, both the ited territory. Refinement of supplies, production forwarder and the receiver of the goods will be of goods, traffic and trade components should satisfied. Cargoes should be delivered from the be arranged optimally between output of sup- customer to the receiver. Finally, one of the plies and trade as this is solution for cargo trans- most important quality indicators of the process port [4]. of transportation is its duration. This matters The approach of the task requests to find both the freight transport and passenger traffic, the most beneficial geographical point, where because time is money, but usually the time refinement of supplies or wholesale companies spent in transportation cannot be used to the could be disposed, in order to gain minimal best advantage. That is the reason why the transport expenses and the highest quality of modes of transportation, which can provide con- goods when delivering them to market, in such veyance in smaller amounts of goods or passen- way increasing demand of goods. Several theo- gers in shorter time, are more expensive than ries exist on arrangement optimization of these relatively cheap modes of transportation, which facilities. can transfer big loads. So called intermodal transport and agents of transporting process are used. These types of 1. Tendencies of transportation transporting are widely applied in international Transporting is a service which is connected systems of transport technologies, because it with the use of other services – logistics, pro- allows using road transport and railroad transport curement and other intermediary activities. Main advantages. It is important that during transpor- problems of transporting and storage are the de- tation the whole responsibility for the cargo is crease of costs and time of delivery. Practical taken by the driver of the truck, but railroad is solutions of these problems are quite connected just carrying transport units from one station to with the choice of the type of transport and another. Railroad also manages reloading opera- storage location. tions in the territory of stations. Nowadays besides issues which deal with In the recent decades the pattern of the us- raising effectiveness of transport, there are some age of different modes of transport has changed, dealing with the actual impairment of transport e.g., cargo circulation statistics by different land services. This last issue is connected with over- transport modes in EU starting from 1970 up to load of transport infrastructure, high expenses 2010 is evaluated as follows: (see Table 1). and essential investment of new infrastructure

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Transport is linked with global logistics cir- nological potential. Thirdly, the qualifications of cumstances. Uneven division of the resources of workers differ. Moreover, there are significant production in the world, climate peculiarities and differences in the economic level of development heritage of production traditions is the basis of of countries, efficiency of economic activities international division of labour. Firstly, it pertains and productivity of labour. Finally, there are also to natural and power resources without which differences as to the level of requirements, struc- the economics of the country is inconceivable. ture, purchasing capacity and certain demand. Secondly, countries differ in scientific and tech-

Table 1. Cargo Circulation, EU [1;9] Billion ton-kilometres Proportion in Type of transport 1970 1980 1988 2000 2010 year 2010 Railroad transport 274 269 257 251 247 14% Road transport 439 687 830 1189 1442 79% Inner water transport 113 118 109 117 118 7%

International division of labour is typical for serves as a condition for insuring effective tran- the modern economy. Consequently, in many sit services and increase of Latvia’s services ex- countries division of labour is becoming more port, giving large investment in the country’s detailed and is turning into new quality – spe- outer trading balance counterpoising (see Fig.1). cialization. The traditional modes of transport in Latvia A typical feature of economic development include road transport, railroad transport, air is that in some countries the final product is transport, water transport and pipeline transport. manufactured, while accessory equipment, mate- The range of transit services includes harbour, rials or semi-finished products are delivered by railroad, road traffic, custom storage, broker and specialized companies from other countries. Sta- shipping or forwarding agents services. They ble international cooperation connections are work in circumstances of international competi- characteristic of the modern world economy, tion and mostly competing with other Baltic serving the international trade, the origin of States, Finland and Russia. As the limiting factor which is to be found in ancient times, but it is of is the rail system, unlike many EU countries rail- vital importance today and will be in the future. way systems and the system shortage Latvian. Tendencies to reduce manufacturing within Latvia – a country of transit. This phrase is one country and expanding international speciali- known almost for all inhabitants of Latvia and zation is hidden in the consideration that product also for our cooperation partners abroad. Be- development, technologies and assembling are cause of the geographical position Latvia has accomplished by domestic labour. A huge already for a long time served as a country amount of accessory hardware, units and com- through which international trading is held [7]. ponents are brought from other companies trying However this advantage is not unique. For ex- to attain maximum quality and minimum ex- amples, Russia covers a lot of eastern and north- penses on the world scale. As a result, associa- eastern Europe. Russia has land borders with tions of production originate on the world scale, Norway, Finland, , Latvia, , Bela- but local companies can offer modifications of rus and in Europe. Five of these the final output, while producing the necessary neighbouring countries are former Soviet republic components by local workforce is not real. Sup- [3]. plies of units and components for local compa- Transit in Latvia is often considered as a nies decrease, because they receive them in branch. That is because with the processing of small amounts and at the right time. transit loads work most of the companies of transport. Each 10th million tonnes of goods in 2. Transport matters in Latvia transit services gives at least 1% of the GDP Transit traffic is transportation from one (Gross Domestic Product) growth [2]. Therefore country to another, crossing at least one other it is in Latvia’s interests to retain the lost country. The geographical location of Latvia on amounts of loads and to gain new. According to the east coast of Baltic Sea with its unfreezing the trends of last few years in the transport field harbours and infrastructure of roads and railroad in Eurasia particular attention should be paid to

143 MAIN PROBLEMS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSIT TRANSPORT VIA LATVIA the development of new services and to the dis- and infrastructure, which gives considerably big- covery of new markets, by raising qualification ger investment in Latvian economical develop- of logistic specialists and developing new possi- ment. bilities to make logistics and distribution services

Fig.1. Latvian transport infrastructure [6]

Transit development is based on two major gauge) and a single rail freight system of the or- markets - the European Union and the CIS and ganization (see Fig. 2). At the same time this Asian markets service. Undoubtedly a major role means that Latvia lacks proper cooperation with in the development of transit plays cooperation Western European countries as regards to rail- with the CIS countries. Latvia to the CIS countri- way. es linked by common rail system (1520 mm

Fig. 2. Latvia - a bridge between Europe and Asia [6]

There are two types of action that are con- (and reloaded) in transit. In the latter case there sidered as transit – the vehicles carrying transit are two or more modes of transport (vehicles) loads through country and cargos transported used. These operations are of high value-added

144 Jānis Kuškins and the main transportation direction is east- crossing procedures. Besides, the development west, mostly reloading at ports. Unlike the tran- of transit cannot be imagined without active co- sit type in which loads are only transported operation with abroad partners in both – private though country, if reloading takes place, transit and country sector, and also active participation state may gain extra added value from the re- in international organizations. loading services. Today’s aim of transit development is to Effective and competitive transport system gain steady and stable increase of transit cargo is one of the most important preconditions to amount and maximally increase transit cargo guarantee economical and social development. value-added. This is rather cautious aim. Never- In Latvia there has been made a relatively bal- theless, it fits the real situation in the region, real anced transport net that in the whole insures the forecasts worked out by international experts, transportation of cargo and traffic of passengers. development of tendencies in modern technolo- A sharp change in transport infrastructure usu- gies and sharply growing competition conditions. ally follows economical activities and in many In last years as a relatively new member state of cases also the increase or decrease of popula- EU Latvia has a possibility to take part in making tion’s living standard. In the last few years the European Union’s politics and join into EU inter- transport field shows several trends: the deterio- national trading activities. ration of road and railroad quality, increase of There has been done a lot in the transit de- the load to roads, the territorial decrease of the velopment recently. The demands of legislation infrastructure of railroads, rapid increase of the in Latvia are completely harmonized with de- flow of passengers in the International Airport of mands of European Union. The central objects of Riga. infrastructure are included in the TEN where also Despite the stable increase of transportation the main investments are placed, including most amount there is a chain of different problems, of the financial supply from European Union. which interfere with development of transporta- Very important job is done in custom legis- tion in Latvia. These problems for railroad mostly lation coordinating with EU requirements. The are connected with maintenance of infrastruc- support from EU is gained for forming new bor- ture, which makes the main part of railroad ex- der check points in harbours and on railroads. penses. Despite the transportation amount in There is also active participation in all important 1990th decreased, the expenses of infrastructure international activities according to question stayed on the same level. Infrastructure is the about oil transit through transmission pipelines. main problem in road transportation because of Latvia has joined INOGATE umbrella agreement, small carrying capacity of roads and streets. This regularly takes part in workout of Europe Ener- significantly limits the road capacity and leads to getic charter Transit protocol, and actively coop- a reduction of transit. The most beneficial situa- erates in North dimension where Latvian trans- tion is for Latvian harbours, which have collided port specialists have applied certain projects for with fewer problems than railroad and road developing transit. There has been created in- transport. vestment appealing tax regime in Latvian har- bours. Container train has been made to join Bal- 3. Recent transportation projects in Latvia tic States’ harbours with Russia, Kazakhstan, On May 1st, 2004 Latvia became a member Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. state of European Union. Transport legislation is This is a unique possibility for Latvia to op- completely coordinated through the requirements erate in the biggest fields of transit – harbours. of European Union. Latvian Transport system has Also important is to gain leading positions among joined Trans Europe Transport Net (TEN-T), the Baltic States in creating logistic centre and for resources of EU are used actively to develop that there are all needed logistic preconditions. transport infrastructure. Besides transport development tendencies in EU, As the Latvian-Russian border became the appealing combined transport system should be eastern border of EU, the amount of vehicles on created. This is connected with both legislation roads rapidly increased. Due to insufficient ca- and infrastructure. Active cooperation with East- pacity of penetrability of border-crossing also ern countries has been started in order to draw queues of vehicles on border increased. in transit cargos for Latvian harbours. As an important precondition in transit de- Following the situation in the global trans- velopment is considered the simplifying of border portation business and politics, Latvia’s top prior-

145 MAIN PROBLEMS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSIT TRANSPORT VIA LATVIA ity today is the use of containers in transporta- with the opportunity to further deliver the goods tion [5]. Container train "ZUBR" (the Baltic Stat- to Turkey and other Black Sea ports and return es, ) route has been extended to Ukraine them to the Baltic States and Scandinavia (see and the Ukrainian ports of Odessa and Ilyichevsk Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. Latvia - a bridge between Europe and Asia [6]

In near future it is planned to sign an operations, cargo storing, dealing with custom agreement with People’s Republic of China for formalities etc. Latvian international road cargo cooperation in railroad sphere, to be more pre- transporters mostly work for transit. No doubt cise – to lengthen container train “Baltika- that stable transit cargo amount increase, cargo Tranzit” up to China. value added tax increase, development of prod- The perspective of the development of the uct distribution and logistic centers is the main transit of Latvia depends a lot on the develop- priority in Latvian national economy. The biggest ment of cooperating states. Transport corridors investments in transport infrastructure are given crosses the territory of Latvia both from East to to harbours, roads and railroad in the directions West through harbours of Latvia, and from North which serve for transit cargo flow. The Trans- to South connecting Russia, the Commonwealth European railway Rail Baltica, linking Helsinki – of Independent States (CIS) and Asian States not Tallinn – Riga – Kaunas –Warsaw and continuing just with Western Europe but with the whole on to Berlin, is to be developed within the territo- World. Transit in Latvia is perceived as a sphere ries of the cooperating EU Member States (see which contains wide range of service – cargo Figure 4).

Fig. 4. Perspective railway line Rail Baltica [6]

146 Jānis Kuškins

Rail Baltica will support the wider EU goals tem. Therefore it is significant to find solutions of parity of Access to services and infrastructure for the said problems. of EU Member States and development of sus- tainable modes of transportation, improved bal- References ance and interoperability between different 1. Sprancmanis, N. Transporta pakalpojumu means of transportation and the establishment of ekonomika un organizācija. Rīga: Rīgas Tehniskā links with the rest of the EU rail network. universitāte. 2001. (in Latvian). 2. LR MINISTRU KABINETA portāls Pamatnostādnes

(Inform). Transporta attīstības pamatnostādnes Conclusions 2007-2013. [2010.12.22.]. www.mk.gov.lv. (in Finally, as the main problems of transit de- Latvian). velopment in Latvian might be named these: 3. Kilpeläinen, J. Development of transit traffic via - poor quality of roads on the main trans- Finland. Lappeenranta University of Technology. port directions; Northern Domension Research Centre. Publicaton - disordered-crossing formalities for EU- 8, www.lut.fi/en/NORDI/publications/.../8_Tran- Russian border; sit_Traffic_via_Finland.pdf. [2011.01.22.]. (in English) - underdeveloped transportation facilities 4. Sprancmanis, N. Biznesa Loģistika. Rīga: by rail in international traffic; EU coun- Vaidelote. 2003. (in Latvian). tries' rail systems lack in Latvia and in- 5. Urbahs, A., Cerkovņnuks, A. Intermodālie efficient connection with EU railway konteineru pārvadājumi. Rīga: RTU izdevniecība; system. 2003. (in Latvian). Even since the regaining of independence 6. LR SATIKSMES MINISTRIJAS portāla TRANZĪTS. transit in Latvia has been a priority and the mat- [2011.02.01.] www.sam.gov.lv/satmin/content/ ters of transit politics have been dealt in the ?cat=112. (in Latvian). highest level. These matters haven’t lost their 7. LR EKONOMIKAS MINISTRIJAS portāls Ziņojums topicality even today. The aim of transport and par Latvijas tautsaimniecības attīstību. [2010.11.21.] www.em.gov.lv./em/2nd/?cat= transit politic still remains – the development of 137. (in Latvian). effective, safe, multimodal, balanced, environ- mental friendly and competitive transport sys-

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