Estonian rail freight volumes drop 18.7 percent in 2016
A total of 12.52 million tons of freight was transported on the infrastructure of state-owned Estonian railway infrastructure firm Eesti Raudtee (EVR) in 2016, a 18.7-percent or 2.9 million ton decrease compared to 2015.
Shipments totaled 1.2 million tons in December, a 10.9-percent drop from the previous year, EVR spokesperson Liina Hallik told BNS on Monday.
Fertilizers emerged as the leading category of commodities last year, with 4.1 million tons handled during the 12 months, 10.5 percent more than in 2015. Rail shipments of oil products totaled 3.5 million tons, a 53 drop compared to 2015.
2.1 million tons of oil shale was shipped in 2016, a 26.5-percent increase over 2015. Shipment of chemical goods also increased 11 percent to 1.2 million tons. Shipment of solid fuels dropped 7.2 percent to 490,000 tons, however.
Transit shipments were down 29 percent, totaling 8 million tons. Local shipments, however, increased 14.5 percent to 2.9 million tons. Import shipments increased 9 percent to 1.4 million tons, while export shipments dropped 27 percent to 210,000 tons.
34,000 TEU of containers were shipped in 2016, 21 percent fewer than the year before.
Estonia's main partner in shipments in 2016 was Russia, where 7.4 million tons of goods bound for Estonia were loaded onto trains. Shipments in the opposite direction amounted to 430,000 tons. Incoming shipments from Russia decreased by 22.7 and shipments bound for Russia by 8 percent in 2016.
Editor: Editor: Aili Vahtla
Source: BNS
