Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Good for Business, Port, Railways, Transport

The port of Parnu as the receiver of imported material may come into play during the years of the railway construction as the construction of the railway section going through Parnu County requires 564,000 cubic meters of railway ballast crushed stone, which is likely to be imported from Finland or Sweden.

Mati Einmann, board member of AS Parnu Sadam (Port of Parnu), said that the port, through which approximately one million tons of goods are transported annually already, is ready even for a double increase in goods turnover.

"The fact if and how much of the material in question will be imported through the port of Parnu is ye too difficult to forecast," spokesman for the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications Mihkel Loide said. He added that the answer to the question how the building material will be transported should be given by the railway's construction logistic research, which analyzes how it is the most reasonable to build the railway, taking into account technological, logistic and environmental opportunities.

At present a construction logistics analysis of Rail Baltic is being carried out, but it is clear even without it that the carriage of material to the railway corridor will significantly increase the burden of heavy transport both in Parnu and in rural areas close to the corridor. It is not only about the storage and distribution of the imported crushed stone, but the transport of necessary gravel, sand, soil, equipment and workers along the local road network.

"Of course the carriage of materials must be thought through," Loide said. "When it comes to the logistics of the material, it is important to bear in mind that it is best if the materials are located close to the road corridor." One of the logistic normatives of the construction of Rail Baltic is the derivation of materials less than 50 kilometers from the road corridor.

"The developer must restore the status of the roads before the construction, as well as ensure access roads and vital traffic to residents during the construction," Loide said, adding that at present it is not known what roads and when during the years of construction the roads will be used to carry the material.

According to the research concerning security of supply of the construction mineral resources, altogether 1.1 million cubic meters of construction crushed stone not produced in Estonia is needed for the construction of the Estonian section of the Rail Baltic railway from 2020 to 2026. In terms of weight, this means 2.4 million tons of igneous rock gravel, which makes up approximately 4-5% of the annual igneous rock gravel production of Finland or Sweden.