Employment, Estonia, Legislation, Railways, Transport

EVR Cargo is about to reduce the number of jobs related to the servicing of engines at the Muuga depot, which is part of the objective to cut labor costs by 11%, EVR Cargo chairman of the management board Raul Toomsalu told BNS.

He said the changes will also affect jobs at the head office.

Maintenance of large engines is to be relocated fully from Muuga to Tapa. "The operations to remain at Muuga are small-scale servicing and repair of engines of EVR Cargo and the manning of engines to avoid idle runs to Tapa for change of crew," Toomsalu said.

He said that since keeping both facilities fully operational is pushing down efficiency, consolidation of certain activities is necessary. Reduced freight volumes require one-third fewer engines to handle the shipments. The number of employees at EVR Cargo meanwhile has not been reduced so far.

BNS reported at the beginning of April that the volume of Russian transit through Estonia has halved to six pairs of trains per day from 12 pairs of trains earlier.

EVR Cargo handled 2.56 million tons of freight in the first quarter of this year, 26% less than in the same three months in 2015. Cargo handling declined in all categories save for bulk and chemical goods.