POLAND AND RUSSIA HAVE FINALLY FOUND A COMMON LANGUAGE

Started in this year February, disagreement between Poland and Russia, has finally come to an end.
After more than half a year fighting for new permits system and adding chaos to everyday life of carriers, on the November 9-10 in Krakow, two delegations held a meeting and reached an agreement that should finally satisfy both parties.

Although a temporary solution to the problem was taken quite quickly after the conflict sparked, Russia felt unsafe and started looking for more ways to reach Western Europe. While considering the possibility of increasing ferry line capacity of ports connecting Russia and Germany, Russia grew tension right before the negotiations with Poland. News about Russian deliberations spread quite quickly and for Poland this meant that Russians are preparing alternatives to bypass the territory of Poland. This route would not be the most convenient for carriers and would not serve for the Klaipeda Ferry service, but it seems that it has made its influence on the agreement with Poland.

According to the final decision, both countries will exchange with 190 thousand permits each, of which 48 thousand (for Poland) and 10 thousand (for Russia) will be given for the third-party cargo. Lithuanian Carrier’s union president Mecislavas Atroskevicius claimed, that quota is sufficient for both sides. Russia will be able to travel freely through Poland to Western Europe and can stop considering ferry improvement, and Poland should have enough permits for third-party transportation through Russia.