Operail
Formerly | AS EVR Cargo |
---|---|
Company type | State owned |
Industry | Transport |
Founded | 2009 |
Headquarters | , Estonia |
Key people | Raul Toomsalu (CEO) Kuldar Leis (Chairman of the Board) |
Services | Freight transport Rolling stock rental Locomotive maintenance and modernisation |
Revenue | €72.91 million |
€15.72 million | |
€9.22 million | |
Owner | Government of Estonia |
Number of employees | 694 (2018) |
Subsidiaries | AS Operail Leasing WagonPro Holding Oy |
Website | operail |
AS Operail (former name: AS EVR Cargo) is a railway logistics company located in Tallinn, Estonia. Its sole shareholder is the Government of Estonia.
History
The company was established as EVR Cargo in 2009; initially, it was structured as a subsidiary of Eesti Raudtee that was mainly focused upon freight transportation. During 2012, the company was legally separated from Eesti Raudtee, but remained under Estonian government ownership. In June 2018, the company was rebranded as Operail; amongst other reasons, the name change was intended to reflect that the company is involved in other business sectors beyond that of freight transportation, such as rolling stock leasing, maintenance, and modernisation.[1][2]
In the same year, in collaboration with
During May 2018, the company, together with the railway companies of Latvia and Lithuania, signed an agreement to jointly establish the Amber Train freight transportation route from Šeštokai through Riga to Tallinn.[11] On 13 September 2022, the first Amber Train service departed Muuga for the Kaunas terminal; goods from the terminal will also be transported to Muuga on the return journey, the majority of which will be sent onwards to Finland.[12][13]
During the 2010s and early 2020s, the group opted to expand its rolling stock leasing activities; by 2022, these included the wagon leasing businesses AS Operail Leasing and Operail Leasing Finland. That same year, Operail's chairman Raul Toomsalu attributed the wagon leasing business as having been a key contributor to the company's financial performance. Reportedly, by the end of 2021, 94 percent of the company's wagons had leasing contracts in place.[14]
In October 2019, Operail announced that it was setting up a new subsidiary to haul freight in Finland as a part of its increasing efforts to pursue international opportunities.[15][16] During June 2020, it was announced that the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency (Traficom) had approved the safety management system of Operail Finland, a new subsidiary that was being set up to operate freight services in the Finnish market.[17] On 3 November of that year, Operail Finland ran its first freight service, hauled by GE PowerHaul diesel locomotives, it carried dry bulk freight for the Finnish port operator Rauanheimo along the Vainikkala - Koverhar route.[15][18] In February 2021, Operail signed a partnership agreement with Oiltanking for the transportation of an annual freight volume of chemicals in excess of one million tons along the Vainikkala-Kotka route.[19] During 2021, the first full year of operations for Operail's Finnish freight transport business, a total of one million tons of goods were reportedly transported by the company.[14]
In July 2022, Operail had reportedly encountered operational hardships, which were largely attributed to the economic and political consequences of the
Performance and organisation
In 2018, Operail transported 13.4 million tonnes of freight: mainly fertilizers, mineral fuels, and oil shale; its operating income was €72.7 million, while a net profit of €9.2 million was recorded.[23] Accordingly, in early 2019, the company paid 1.5 million euros in dividends to the Estonian state.[24]
In 2021, Operail's container freight volume within Estonia increased to 56,429 TEU, a 26 per cent rise over the year prior; its revenue reportedly increased to €73 million, a 12 per cent increase over the previous year.[14] The group’s net profit without extraordinary items was nearly €4 million, a 43% increase compared to the previous year; after deducting the extraordinary items, including asset write-downs, the group incurred a loss of €5 million. Furthermore, Operail opted to invest a total of €13.7 million into its operations that year.[14]
During 2019, it was reported that the Government of Estonia was planning to sell 49 percent of the shares in Operail.
References
- ^ "EVR Cargo rebrands itself as Operail". ERR. 22 June 2018. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
- ^ "Operail: The new name for EVR Cargo". globalrailwayreview.com. 2 July 2018.
- ^ Barrow, Keith (19 October 2018). "Estonia's Operail rebuilds US diesel locomotives". International Railway Journal. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
- ^ "US-built Estonian GE locomotive rebuilt". Railway Gazette. 8 December 2017. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
- ^ "Operail to cut 21 jobs in restructuring of operations at Tapa depot". ERR. 22 April 2019. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
- ^ "Operail to shift focus into locomotive construction industry". globalrailwayreview.com. 2 May 2019.
- ^ "CZ LOKO continues modernisation of Estonian Operail locomotives". globalrailwayreview.com. 17 January 2020.
- ^ "Operail launches its first LNG freight locomotive for testing". globalrailwayreview.com. 16 July 2021.
- ^ "Operail is planning to build a prototype of a hydrogen locomotive". railtarget.eu. 11 October 2021.
- ^ Ellis, Dominic (7 October 2021). "Stargate Hydrogen signs retrofit deal with Operail". energydigital.com.
- ^ "Baltic railway leaders sign Amber Train agreement". ERR. 29 May 2018. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
- baltictimes.com. 13 September 2022.
- ^ "Amber Train test journey started". railwaypro.com. 30 September 2022.
- ^ a b c d e "Operail increased its revenue last year and achieved the best EBITDA in Operail's history". baltictimes.com. 27 June 2022.
- ^ a b Burroughs, David (6 November 2020). "Operail launches Finnish open-access freight service". International Railway Journal.
- ^ "Estonian Operail launches subsidiary in Finland, invests €50 million in freight transport". strategeast.org. 16 October 2019.
- ^ Burroughs, David (30 June 2020). "Operail prepares to launch freight services in Finland". International Railway Journal.
- ^ "Operail begins railway operations in Finland". baltic-course.com. 4 November 2020.
- ^ "Oiltanking and Operail form a new partnership on Finnish railroads". tanknewsinternational.com. 17 February 2021.
- ^ "Freight company Operail facing 'complicated circumstances'". Railway Gazette. 8 July 2022.
- ^ Robinson, Elliot (2 August 2022). "Operail report sharp decline in freight volumes". globalrailwayreview.com.
- ^ "Operail looks to Central Asia and China to replace Russian goods". EER. 6 July 2022.
- ^ "Vagunite rentimine Venemaale viis Operaili kasumisse" [Renting wagons to Russia led Operail to profit]. Delfi (in Estonian). 27 March 2019. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
- ^ "Riigi äriühingud maksavad eelarvesse 129 miljonit eurot dividende" (in Estonian). ERR. 4 April 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
- ^ Virki, Tarmo (6 April 2019). "Three Estonian parties, including far-right EKRE, agree on coalition plan". Reuters. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
- ^ "Operail sells its non-strategic assets". railwaypro.com. 28 September 2022.
- ^ "Operail Freight Volumes Down 83 Percent since Russia's Invasion of Ukraine". ERR. 18 August 2023. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
- ^ Linnart, Mart (24 January 2024). "Operail's Old Locomotives Go to Scrapyard". ERR. Retrieved 24 January 2024.