Covid-19, Crisis, EU – Baltic States, Port, Tourism, Transport

The latest announced ferry departure from Sassnitz is scheduled for Wednesday, March 18. Trucks will also be allowed onto the Riga-bound ferry, the Foreign Ministry said.

Latvians who want to catch this ferry to return home can book tickets at www.tallink.lv, starting at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday. 

A 40 kilometers long queue of trucks and a 30 kilometers long line of passenger cars have been waiting at the  German-Polish border for quite some time already. 

Bekeris said that buses and minibuses with more than seven seats are allowed to cross the border. The first convoys have already crossed Poland and are soon expected to arrive in Latvia.

The situation is extremely complicated but Latvian officials are working with Polish authorities and German police to resolve it. Lithuania is doing the same. "We continue to work with Poland to seek additional solutions," the Foreign Ministry's representative said. 

At 7:00 a.m. today Latvian nationals had the opportunity to cross Poland by train departing from Frankfurt (Oder) for Vilnius, Lithuania. Bekeris indicated that the train was half-empty, although the departure was delayed to wait for everyone willing to catch the train.

To contain the spread of Covid-19, Poland has closed its borders to foreign nationals and halted air and rail traffic with foreign countries.