Last week the general director of the Estonian Railway Board signed an order declaring Eesti Raudtee (Estonian Railway) freight carriage and infrastructure safety certificates as being in force again. The Transport and Communications Ministry said that the board restored the safety certificate since Estonian Railway had eliminated all the shortcomings of its rolling stock.
The board had stripped the company of its safety certificate after strong criticism of the American locomotives bought by Estonia Railway, saying they were unsuitable and the danger of accidents was high. The board invalidated the railway's infrastructure management safety certificate on Sept. 9, and then its freight carriage safety certificate on Sept. 18, citing the company's refusal to install security devices on the U.S. locomotives. (Baltic News Service)
Cargo turnover keeps falling
Cargo turnover at Latvian ports fell 9 percent year-on-year to 40.1 million tons in the nine months due to the prolonged slump in oil and oil-products transit, reported the Latvian Transport Ministry. Reduced turnover was due mainly to slower activity at Ventspils, where the key port for reloading oil and oil products is located.
Despite the decline, liquid cargoes still account for more than half of total cargo turnover at Latvia's ports. In the nine months of this year, Latvia's three large and seven small ports reloaded 21.3 million tons of liquid cargoes, a fall of 19.4 percent year-on-year. However, the ports reloaded 11.4 million tons of bulk cargoes, a 15.1 percent growth compared to the same period last year. (BNS)
Lithuanians loving payment cards
Lithuania's payment card market, which saw slower growth earlier this year, surged by 80 percent from January to September and reached 1.4 million litas (405,000 euros). The country's commercial banks had issued a total of 1.39 million different payment cards by early October, compared to 774,000 cards at the same time last year.
The total amount of goods and services purchased on payment cards over the nine-month period amounted to 5 billion litas, which doubles the figure from a year ago. Total annual turnover reached 4.3 billion litas last year.
As of early October there were 859 cash-dispensers in Lithuania and around 9,750 places where cards were accepted for payment. (BNS)
Tough times ahead for canneries
Estonia's Fish Union estimates that the coming year will be hard for the country's fish processing companies due to the decreasing size of catches and rising prices for products.
"With catches decreasing due to tougher harvesting quotas, the cost price of canneries will grow significantly, because more raw material will have to be purchased from external sources," said Vladur Noormagi, head of the Fish Union. He said canneries so far had to buy around 25 percent of fish from outside sources, mainly Finland and Sweden, but that could be expected to grow in the future.
"Companies which themselves catch and then process the fish will be especially hard hit," he observed. "I see very hard times ahead, in particular in Saaremaa and Hiiumaa and the Ida-Virumaa region." (BNS)
Banks on long-term lending binge
Loans to Latvian companies and private individuals totaled 1.6 billion lats (2.8 billion euros) as of late September, a growth of 43 percent year-on-year, reported the Bank of Latvia. Short-term loans to domestic companies and individuals as of Sept. 30 amounted to 255 million lats, down 2.2 percent from last year, while long-term loans reached 1.4 billion lats, up a staggering 56 percent.
Deposits by domestic companies and private individuals at the banks were 1.2 billion lats as of end-September, up 23 percent year-on-year. Of these, demand deposits made up 716 million lats, an increase of 24.6 percent year-on-year, and term deposits amounted to 518 million lats, up 20.9 percent year-on-year. (BNS)
Advisors recommend sale of airline
Advisors on the privatization of Lietuvos Avialinijos (Lithuanian Airlines) recommend selling 66 percent of shares in the national carrier to a strategic investor, while at the same time giving local investors an opportunity to participate in the sell-off. A commission responsible for the privatization of Lithuanian Airlines, currently 100 percent government-owned, is meeting this week to discuss the draft program, worked out by a consortium led by Germany's Indecon Consulting.
"The terms and conditions of the company's privatization provide an opportunity for Lithuanian investors to participate in Lithuanian Airlines' privatization within a consortium with a strategic investor," said Liutauras Radzevicius, head of the Transactions Division of the State Property Fund.
"All potential investors are in favor of the proposal that Lithuanian Airlines retain its status as the national carrier until 2004, when Lithuania expects to join the European Union, and they wish that the government remain a shareholder with an equity stake of at least 34 percent." (BNS)
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