Cargo, Estonia, Railways, Statistics, Transport

Piret Pukk, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, said that over the years, the freight volume of Estonian ports has been affected by the transport of goods by rail, where a large part is made up of the transit of oil products. "In recent years, the transit of oil products has significantly decreased, and with it, the transportation of goods by public rail, as well as the volume of freight loaded in ports," Pukk said.

Last year, 7 mln tons of oil products were loaded in ports, which was more than three times less than the record amount of the last ten years. The volume of unloading of oil products has reached 5 mln tons per year in recent years.

Last year, 13.2 miln tons of goods were transported by public rail, which is over a half less than the record for the last decade. Of this, only 4.3 mln tons were oil products.

In the first three quarters of this year, loading of goods in the port accounted for almost two-thirds or 18.1 mln tons of the cargo volume of the ports, and unloading of goods in the port accounted for one third or 9.8 mln tons.

Compared to last year, 2% less cargo was loaded in ports, but 10% more cargo was unloaded.

Oil products, chemical products and various different types of goods transported together, agricultural and forestry products, quarry products and wood products are mostly transported through Estonian ports.

In the first three quarters, the volume of freight transport by rail decreased by approximately a third compared to last year, to 11.5 mln tons. The decrease in the volume of freight transport was mostly influenced by the halving of domestic oil shale transports. Last year, domestic transport accounted for almost half of the railway cargo volume, but this year only 35% or 4 mln tons.

More than half of the goods transported by rail were chemical products, almost a fifth oil shale and 16% oil products.

In the first three quarters, a total of 8.3 mln tons of goods were transported by public rail, which is 16% less than last year. International transport accounted for more than 90% with 7.5 mln tons of freight, while domestic transport accounted for 800,000 tons. Transit freight decreased by 7% and accounted for 6.5 mln tons of international rail freight.

Altogether 900,000 tons of goods were transported to Estonia from abroad by rail, which is one-fifth less than last year. Freight transport from Estonia to abroad decreased by more than a third, 100,000 tons of goods were exported.

The overview is based on a nine-month data summary. According to Statistics Estonia, the amount of freight in tons by rail may be reflected twice, because in domestic transport several railway undertakings may transport the same quantity of goods to the destination if one carrier transports goods by public rail and the other by non-public rail.