Estonian rail freight carrier’s cargo volume in July reached 1.02 million tons

Estonian state-owned rail freight carrier EVR Cargo’s freight volume reached 1.022 million tons in July, decreasing by 4.7 per cent year-on-year. The overall freight volume during the first seven months of the year remains 4.5 per cent short of last year’s same period, amounting to 9.1 million tons in total.

EVR Cargo’s chairman of the board Ahto Altjõe said that fertiliser and oil shale volumes increased somewhat in July. “The transit of mineral fuels has hit a low point, but the positive growth trend of container traffic is a good signal,” commented Altjõe.

Container volumes hauled by EVR Cargo were up 47 per cent year-on-year in July, reaching 6 418 TEUs in total. EVR Cargo has hauled 44 704 TEUs during the first half of the year, an increase of 32 per cent compared to last year.

The volume of mineral liquid fuels increased by 28 per cent to 315 thousand tons in July, the volume of fertilisers increased by 28 per cent to 308 thousand tons and the volume of oil shale transport increased by 78 per cent to 167 thousand tons year-on-year. The freight volume of chemical goods decreased by 11 percent to 76 thousand tons.

In July Russia remained as the main trade partner for EVR Cargo in railway freight with 513 thousand tons. Latvia’s share decreased to 87 thousand tons and Kazakhstan increased their share to 131 thousand tons.

The transit volume of mineral liquid fuels during the first seven months of the year has decreased by 12 per cent to 3.87 million tons. The freight
volume of fertilizers has increased by 15 per cent to 1.87 million tons and the volume of chemical goods has increased by 5 per cent to 0.65 million tons. Oil shale transport has dropped by 11 per cent to 1.418 million tons.

The share of transit freight decreased during seven months by 0.2 per cent to 5.45 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.