Estonia: Eesti Raudtee’s freight turnover down 43% in 2023

Estonia’s state-owned railway company, Eesti Raudtee (EVR), transported 10mn tonnes of cargo in 2023, which was 43% less than in 2022, ERR reports. The volume of transit freight totalled 2.1mn tonnes in 2023, compared to 9.5m tonnes in 2021. EVR’s commercial director, Arthur Raichmann, said that the biggest commodity groups were shale oil from Estonia and fuels from Orlen’s oil refinery in Lithuania. He said that EVR’s infrastructure was increasingly being used for passenger transport only. The state paid EUR 31mn to cover the company’s losses in 2023. Sander Salmu, deputy secretary general for transport at the Ministry of Climate, estimated that the state would provide EVR with EUR 38-40mn of state support per year. However, he said that the completion of the Rail Baltica railway would increase the volume of rail freight.