Analytics, Estonia, Port, Railways, Transport

During the past year, Estonian ports dispatched and received 34.8 million tons of goods, a fifth less than the year before. Loading of goods made up 24.6 million tons and unloading 10.2 million tons. While in 2014, the increase in ports' freight turnover was supported by the growth in unloading of goods, in 2015 loading volumes fell 18% and unloading volumes 25%. Loading of goods is influenced by rail carriage of goods, which mainly means goods in transit.

During the past decade loading of goods has decreased 42% whereas unloading has more than doubled.

Cargo carriage on Estonian railways amounted to 28 million tons in 2015, which marks a year-on-year drop of 23% and is the biggest decrease recorded in recent years. The main reason for the fall is that Russia is increasingly using its own ports to dispatch goods to other countries instead of combining the services of its railways and Estonian ports.

Domestic cargo carriage by rail amounted to 15 million tons, a quarter less than in 2014. Transit goods made up 11.3 million tons, exports 0.4 million and imports 1.3 million tons. The carriage of transit goods decreased by a fifth in annual comparison.

The volume of rail freight in tons has steadily decreased in the last four years.

The volume of both loading and unloading in Estonian ports and the amount of freight carried by rail last showed a year-on-year increase in 2011. While in the first half of 2013 there were some months in which rail carriage of goods increased in comparison with the same month of the previous year, in 2014 and 2015 goods volumes decreased in annual comparison in all months. The ports have fared a little better: in some months of 2014, a year-on-year increase in freight turnover was registered, but last year goods volumes dropped in all months.