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COUNTRY OVERVIEW LITHUANIA
General information
The total length of the inland waterways network in Lithuania is about
900
kilometers of which 425 kilometers are usable for freight and passenger transportation.
The waterways are divided into state and local significant waterways. The
state significant waterways with a total length of 819 kilometers are: River Neman from Virsutine
Privalka to Kaunas hydro power-station (HPS), River Neman from Kaunas HPS to Curronian Buy (Klaipeda), Neris River fall, Nevezis River fall, King Wilhelm Canal, River Minija, Mituva Canal.
Local significant waterways with a length of 48 kilometers are: Neris River in Vilnius, Lake Galve in Trakai, River Skivyte,
River Shisha.
Other waterways are River Jura,
Lakes of Regions Zarasai and Backwater Elektrenai.
The largest and most important inland waterway is Kaunas - River Neman - Curronian Bay - Klaipeda. The length of this waterway is 278.3 km. The authorized draught of the part from Kaunas to Jurbarkas is 1.2 meters and from Jurbarkas to Klaipeda 1.5
meters. The prolongation of this
waterway to Druskininkai is blocked by Kaunas HPS.
The second one of importance is the Curonian Bay waterways. These two inland waterways are known as E 41 and E 70
inland routes of UN. Both waterways go to Klaipeda seaport and are connected with international see transport networks.
The Curonian Bay waterway, through Kaliningrad (Russian
Federation) is
connected with the European inland waterway network. Through connections via Rotterdam - Arnhem - Bergeshővede - Magdeburg - Berlin - Elblag - Kaliningrad - Pregole River and Deimena River - Curronian Bay –
Klaipeda and the Curonian waterway Lithuania is
connected with the North Sea and the Baltic Sea basins!
The Curonian Bay is the biggest lagoon in the Baltic
Sea area. The area of the Curonian Bay is 1 584 square kilometers of which 415 square meters are on Lithuanian territory. The average water depth is 3.8 meters. The deepest part has a depth of 5.8 meters. The second largest lagoon is the Kaunas
Lagoon on Kaunas Lock with an area of 63,5
square meters, a length of 93 kilometers and a width of 3,3 kilometers. Greatest water depth is 22 meters.
There are 2 830 lakes in Lithuania larger
than 0.5
hectare. The total area of these is 880 square meters. The biggest lakes are Druksiai, Dysnai and Dusia.
Klaipeda, Neringa, Jurbarkas,
Kaunas ports are basic inland waterway ports in Lithuania with
international significance. Smaller ports are Juodkrante,
Pervalka, Preila and Uostadvaris. The shipping season in Lithuania is 7.5
months´ long. It begins in the beginning of March and continues until
the middle of November.
Commercial shipping on inland waterways
In 2003 only 645.5 thousands tonnes
of cargo were carried on inland waterways in Lithuania. The
largest part of that was shipped between Klaipeda and Neringa and Spit on Curonian Bay by Ro/Ro ferries. The reason for this is that geographically, Neringa and Spit have no connection with Klaipeda on land.
Domestic inland waterway transports are mainly for
minerals, building materials (gravel, sand and aggregate) and timber.
In the last decade there has been a drop in the
volume of inland waterway goods, especially on the route between Kaunas - River Neman - Curonian Bay and Klaipeda. It depends on structural changes in the economy of Eastern Europe.
Small depths of rivers and poor freight shipping infrastructure practically
give very small possibilities for transportation of goods on rivers, as well.
In the beginning of 2004 there were in Lithuania some 60
authorized freight vessels, 23 passengers or passengers/freight vessels and
135 others (auxiliary mostly). The average age of those vessels is more than
20 years.
Tourism
on inland waterways
There are about two million of passengers carried on
inland waterways annually in Lithuania. The
main part of those passengers is carried by Ro/Ro ferries between Klaipeda and Neringa.
There are about 30 private tourist-ships providing service for passengers on Curonian Bay and the route between Neman and Sovetsk
(Russian Federation). Several ships navigate in Lakes near to Druskininkai
and Trakai, Ignalina
region. In the last few years an increasing number of entertaining ships and
yachts have shown up since after Lithuania joined
the EU, prices for these kinds of water-transports
have decreased. The vessels are mostly provided by the private sector.
In Lithuania many rivers and lakes have got very beautiful and attractive
landscapes. Popular water-tourism routes along River Neman
are Merkine-Alytus (~70 kms),
Kvedarna-Taurage-Vilkyskiai (~120 kms), Zervynos-Merkine-Alytus
(~115 kms), Alytus-Punia-Birztonas
(~55 kms) and Druskininkai-Merkine-Alytus
(85 kms). Tourism service providers suggest a 3-5
days´ programme with floats, canoes and
sculls. Tourists also like the water entertainment in Lake Galve (Trakai), Lakes of Regions Zarasai, Ignalina, Moletai and Ladijai.
Lithuania is at
present not fully realizing its water-tourism potential. Short tourism
season, poor supply of entertainment, weak marketing and lack of information
are the reasons for not fully use the waterways´ potential. The
water-tourism in Lithuania suffers from the poor infrastructure situation. It is illustrated by the fact that
basic waterways do not satisfy tourism industry requirements; there are no
access roads, no parking and any other necessary infrastructure.
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