Port begins facelift

  • 2006-03-08
  • From wire reports
TALLINN - Estonia's state-owned Port of Tallinn intends to invest nearly 5 billion kroons (320 million euros) in construction and modernizing over a period of five years.

Investments this year are planned to reach 1.16 billion kroons, 73 million kroons of which will come from European Union funds, the company said in its annual report.

2004 investments by the port company totaled over a billion kroons, while in 2005 the sum was just 345 million kroons.

The Muuga Port, located just outside Tallinn, and the south port of Paldiski, some 50 kilometers west of the capital, are to get the lion's share of the investments, or 67 percent and 21 percent respectively.

Investments at Muuga are aimed at developing the port's eastern area, where a coal terminal began as the first reloading facility in 2005.

Also, a metals terminal and general- and dry-bulk terminals will be set up at Muuga, in addition to expanding the port's container terminal. The territory of an industrial park is being prepared with the necessary railway and other connections, and the free-zone is being expanded to the eastern part of the port.

Planned investments in the port of Paldiski are to go toward a dry-bulk terminal, breakwater and the construction of a special quay for motor vehicles to service the port's expanding auto terminals.

In order to finance its development investments, the company intends to take out a significant amount of loans over the next five years, as a result of which the debt to equity ratio is about to rise to 40 percent, Port of Tallinn said.