Estonian rail freight carrier’s cargo volume down by 4.4 per cent in first half-year

Photo: Toomas Huik

Estonian state-owned rail freight carrier EVR Cargo’s freight volume reached 1.14 million tons in June, increasing by 4.2 per cent year-on-year. The overall freight volume in the first half of the year remains 4.4 per cent short of last year’s same period, amounting to 8.1 million tons in total.

EVR Cargo’s chairman of the board Ahto Altjõe said that all commodity groups showed modest growth rates in June. «The recently opened container terminal expansion in Port of Muuga will hopefully contribute more to this positive development,» commented Altjõe.

Container volumes hauled by EVR Cargo were up 67 per cent year-on-year in June, reaching 6 336 TEUs in total. EVR Cargo has hauled 38 293 TEUs during the first half of the year, an increase of 30 per cent compared to last year. The volume of mineral liquid fuels increased by two per cent to 402 thousand tons in June, the volume of fertilisers increased by 3 per cent to 257 thousand tons and the volume of oil shale transport increased by 28 per cent to 217 thousand tons. The freight volume of chemical goods decreased by 11 percent to 96 thousand tons.

In June Russia remained as the main trade partner for EVR Cargo in railway freight with 519 thousand tons, increasing by 5.7 per cent from last year. Latvia and Kazakhstan increased their share respectively by 21 and 65 per cent to 111 thousand and 141 thousand tons. EVR Cargo has hauled 8.1 million tons of freight during the first six months of the year, showing a decline of 4.4 per cent compared to last year. The volume of mineral liquid fuels has decreased by 9 per cent to 3.56 million tons. The freight volume of fertilizers has increased by 13 per cent to 1.57 million tons and the volume of chemical goods has increased by 8 per cent to 0.57 million tons. Oil shale transport has dropped by 16 per cent to 1.251 million tons. The share of transit freight increased in the first half-year by 1.3 per cent to 4.85 million tons, forming 60 per cent of the total freight volume.

AS EVR Cargo was separated from Estonian Railways in 2012, the company serves its customers in Estonia on a 1229-kilometre long railway track as well as over the entire 1520-millimeter gauge railway network, stretching from Finland to the Black Sea and from the Baltic States to the coast of the Sea of Japan, covering all CIS member states. Rail cars are hauled to and from Russia and surrounding regions in block trains or shuttles, requiring less formalities and thus ensuring faster delivery times. The company also has its own fleet of more than 3300 wagons and 80 locomotives and offers rolling stock repair and maintenance services to its customers.

The Estonian logistics hub has several competitive advantages: fully renovated railway infrastructure with more than 25 million tons of annual free capacity, modern port and terminal infrastructure, transparent costs and a business-friendly tax and economic environment.