Estonia, Legislation, Port, Tourism, Transport

The Estonian government decided last week that the state will start looking for an operator for the routes between the mainland and islands of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa, who could provide the necessary fleet too.

The previous Minister of Economic Affairs, Pro Patria and Res Publica Party member of Juhan Parts wanted the ships to belong to the state in the future.

"First of all, I want to emphasize that the ministry has not given up the idea of acquiring the vessels for the state," Palo insisted in the interview. "The council of the [fully state-owned] Tallinna Sadam decided yesterday, following the expectations of the owner, to announce a procurement to buy the ships. If all goes according to plan, it also has the opportunity to win the tender, and then find the operator," she said.

"This way the state can still now acquire these ships," Palo stressed.

Palo said that due to the tight schedule, she had to make such a decision. "But the schedule is tight. Figuratively speaking, when I came to the ministry, the procurement should have been long announced. Unfortunately, this was not done," said the minister.

"[The previous economy minister] Juhan Parts had seven years to prepare for this procurement. For a half a year he managed to talk about it loudly in the society, but did nothing. It is easy to criticise now," said Palo. "If I had at least three years now, I would have made a different decision," she added.

Parts said this morning in national television's morning show "Terevisioon" that lack of time is just an excuse, and predecessors always seem to be guilty of everything.

"There is enough time. / ... / We have two and a half years! We live in a very busy world. Two and a half years is a very big time," he stressed.

Palo said that if building the ships started today, they could be completed in time, but the state still has to hold the contest that can be disputed too. "I had to make a decision given the new time schedule, and because of that I decided that I as the minister have to guarantee that in 2016, the ferries move at least at today's quality."

The government decided last week that they will start looking for an operator for the Saaremaa and Hiiumaa routes who would be required to provide the fleet. Realistically only current operator Vyacheslav Leedo's Saaremaa Shipping Co has the required ships now.