Baltic States – CIS, Estonia, Port, Transport

International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Friday, 29.03.2024, 12:30

Fall of cargo turnover of Estonian ports biggest in Baltic States in 8 months

BC, Tallinn, 07.10.2015.Print version
The cargo turnover of Estonian ports continues to fall, and this year has been by nearly one fifth smaller than a year ago; the fall has not been so fast in Latvia and in Lithuania the turnover has even increased, LETA/Public Broadcasting reports.

Estonian port managers say that the reason for this is that the fall in prices of liquid fuels and the problems with Russia have hit Estonia harder than the southern neighbours.

 

Estonian ports' cargo turnover has in the first eight months of this year fallen by almost a fifth. In Latvia, however, the turnover has decreased by only 5%, and in Lithuania even increased by almost 7%.

 

Port of Tallinn, which provides about two-thirds of the Estonian ports' cargo turnover, explained that the Port of Tallinn mainly handles liquid fuels and their world market price has dropped.

 

It should also be taken into account that Russia has channelled goods that moved through Estonia to the port of Ust-Luga and since 2007 already, Estonian Railways are subject to restrictions on carriage. Latvia and Lithuania are less affected by these things.

 

Port of Tallinn commercial manager Erik Ringmaa explained that Latvian ports have still better political relations with Russia, and this year the growth has been primarily due to coal and fertilizers. Lithuania has relatively small share of Russian-transit and the market itself is bigger.

 

Transiidikeskuse AS, which operates in the port of Muuga, also acknowledges that their container turnover has dropped by a fifth this year. The company confirmed that the reciprocal sanctions of the European Union and Russia have dealt a blow to many of the Baltic Sea ports. The weakening of the rouble has reduced the purchasing power of Russians.

 

Transiidikeskuse AS says that the decline in their figures would be even bigger if they had not been able to increase the share of Estonian export and import goods.

 

Transiidikeskus AS Manager Erik Laidvee says that the Russian market has fallen by around 40% due to the decline in consumption.






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