This year, approximately 21.4% of all international freight carriers licensed in Latvia are operating on the Russian market, the Road Transport Directorate (ATD) told LETA. The ATD indicated that as of July 1 of this year, the total number of Latvian licensed international freight carriers was 4,690, of which approximately 1,000 carriers were operating on the Russian market. The Directorate explained that Latvian carriers mainly carried out bilateral and transit transportation across Russia, which accounted for 85.2% of the total number of shipments. And transportation to and from third countries accounted for 14.8% of the total number of shipments. Taking into account the agreement reached at the end of 2023 through the mediation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs between the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation with the participation of the Latvian Embassy in Moscow, an exchange of permits for international road freight transport was carried out in 2024 in the amount of one quarter of the annual quota, during which Latvia received 28,500 Russian international permits for road transport for 2024, the ATD reported. ATD has already issued all the received permits to Latvian road carriers. Last year, Latvia received 85,500 Russian permits for international road transport, of which 45,059 were issued to carriers. The number of Latvian carriers that operated on the Russian market in 2023 amounted to 23.7% of all international freight carriers licensed in Latvia. ATD notes that Latvian carriers are looking for alternatives and developing new markets, as the Russian market has become less "attractive" in recent years. At the same time, when forming the budget for 2024, ATD took into account the possibility that, in the current geopolitical situation, international transportation to aggressor countries may be terminated. ATD notes that in 2024, by July 26, a total of 536 permits were issued for transportation to Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia. The number of Latvian carriers using this transportation corridor is approximately 1% of all international freight carriers licensed in Latvia. By July 26, a total of 2,811 permits were issued to Latvian carriers for transportation to Central Asian countries. The number of carriers carrying out cargo transportation to Central Asian countries is approximately 3% of all international freight carriers licensed in Latvia. The Directorate adds that some Latvian road carriers are trying to use the south-eastern corridors to carry out transportation to Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, as evidenced by the request for permits in this direction. However, due to Latvia's geographical location, the distances traveled and the costs are much greater than those of road carriers located in Central Europe, making it difficult to compete. Since mid-April 2022, Belarusian carriers have been prohibited from carrying out freight road transportation within the territory of the European Union (EU). For this reason, since 2023, Belarus has not carried out an international one-time exchange of permits for road transportation with EU countries, and EU carriers can purchase permits for international freight road transportation at the Belarusian transport inspectorate upon entering Belarus.
