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The location of Latvia is ideal for development of transit cargo,
including transport of oil and oil products by pipeline and
railway from CIS countries to the West through Latvian harbours.
The transport of hazardous substances by roads usually is local.
Poor-quality road pavement and intense road traffic on roads
passing through urban areas increase risk.
In 1999, 24 cases of oil and oil product spills were recorded,
and 21 cases in 2000. Most of the spills occurred on railways.
However, the amounts of released oil and oil products from train
cisterns usually is lower than 1-3 t, but spills due to illegal
connections to oil pipelines are typically 50-90 t in each event (about
half of the discharged oil is collected immediately after the
accident, and the other half in further decontamination work.
Accidental spills cause significant damage to the environment, by
contamination of the soil, surface waters and ground water.
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