AKIPRESS.COM - Estonian-based international railway company Operail is considering Central Asian transport to replace some transport options the company had lost due to Russian sanctions.

Raul Toomsalu, chairman of the management board at Operail, told ERR that rail freight volumes in Estonia had plummeted by more than 60 percent as a result of Russia-related sanctions.

"In 2013, we transported an average of 1,200,000 tons per month. In the first half of this year, and in June especially, there has been a significant decline in freight transportation, which now constitutes 500,000 tons a month," Toomsalu said.

This has resulted in a large number of empty wagons as well as locomotives at a standstill.

Operail is now looking to China and Central Asian countries such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to transport the goods they produce.

Toomsalu noted that Kazakhstan is considered to be the country with the most potential to transport its goods through the Baltic corridor and via Finland.

Coal might be imported from Kazakhstan, but Estonia no longer has the capacity to receive large quantities of it in its freight terminals. Moreover, Russia could decide at any time not to permit wagons bound for Estonia on its rails, ??? chairman added.

"A few months earlier, Latvia was still transporting a substantial amount of coal from Kazakhstan, but this abruptly ceased the moment Russia decided to stop it. This does not prevent Kazakhstan from exporting coal, but they will have to find new trade corridors in cooperation with Russia," Toomsalu noticed.