Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) has announced the first train within the Amber Train project has departed from Muuga port.
Amber Train is a joint railway project aiming to create a new railway corridor between Northern and Western Europe through the Baltic States, targeting integrated logistics for Finnish cargo.
The project marks an important step towards shifting more goods to the sustainable transport mode rail, according to HHLA.
The first train departed from Muuga in Northern Estonia towards Kaunas Multimodal Terminal in Lithuania on 13 September.
READ: HHLA opens new rail connections between Baltic and Bosporus
The new corridor, tested for the first time, is expected to facilitate multimodal trade, offering more environmentally friendly and safer ways to transport goods from the Baltic States and Scandinavia, mainly Finland, to Western Europe and vice versa.
Once operational, the Amber Train is scheduled to run twice a week on Muuga-Kaunas-Muuga route.
HHLA’s subsidiary, HHLA TK Estonia, provides the handling cargo in the terminal of Muuga.
“For the Amber Train, HHLA TK Estonia takes on all multimodal terminal services, ensuring a smooth transition from ship to rail and vice versa,” said Riia Sillave, CEO of Estonia’s largest freight terminal HHLA TK Estonia.
“We will strengthen our role as a hub in Baltic Sea traffic in order to be ready as a future Rail Baltica freight terminal and its Europe-wide connection.”
The Amber Train is a cooperation project of the railway companies of the Baltic States and run by AS Operail.
Cooperation partners include Estonian railway infrastructure manager AS Eesti Raudtee, Latvian and Lithuanian rail freight companies LDZ Cargo and LTG Cargo, loading terminals HHLA TK Estonia in the Estonian Muuga and Kaunas Intermodal Terminal in Lithuania.
The group’s revenue rose by almost 10 per cent to €779.5 million ($797 million) in H1 2022, benefiting from a further increase in storage fees and longer dwell times for containers at its facilities.
