NordenBladet —
The Bill on Amendments to the Maritime Safety Act (756 SE), initiated by the Economic Affairs Committee, will reduce the rate of fairway dues in 2026 in order to maintain the international carriage of goods and passengers by sea.
Under the Bill, the fairway dues for ships entering Estonian ports and the roadstead of Estonian ports will be reduced by 15 per cent from 1 January to 31 December next year. The purpose of the amendment is to continue supporting international maritime transport and to motivate consignors to direct their trade flows through Estonian ports. Fairway dues have been reduced by 14 per cent this year.
According to the explanatory memorandum to the Bill, the maritime and logistics sector has not fully recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic which has caused a significant drop in passenger and freight traffic on waterways and in Estonian ports since the beginning of 2020. In addition, the freight volumes of Estonian maritime transport and ports decreased in 2023, primarily in connection with the war against Ukraine and, as a result, the sanctions imposed by the European Union on the transport of goods from Russia. The decline in freight volumes has continued in 2024 and 2025 as well.
Eight interpellations were replied
Minister of Regional Affairs and Agriculture Hendrik Johannes Terras replied to the interpellations concerning the availability of education and the ministry’s plans to improve it (No. 798), ferry ticket prices (No. 824) and the reorganizations of the revenue base of local governments and analyses of subsidies (No. 844).
The Minister of Culture Heidy Purga replied to the interpellation concerning the performance “ÖÖ25” in the Estonian National Museum (No. 840).
Minister of Infrastructure Kuldar Leis replied to the interpellation concerning the pollution of roads during the construction of Rail Baltic (No. 860).
Minister of Energy and the Environment Andres Sutt replied to the interpellations concerning the determination of environmental charges and the supervision of the use of the environment (No. 818), cuts in the field of nature education (No. 852) and the future of nature and environmental education (No. 854).
The interpellation concerning wind energy plans (No. 862), submitted to Minister of Energy and the Environment Andres Sutt, was excluded from the agenda for the day on the motion of the interpellators.
The sitting ended at 7.50 p.m.
Verbatim record of the sitting (in Estonian)
Video recording will be available to watch later on the Riigikogu YouTube channel.
Riigikogu Press Service
Gunnar Paal
+372 631 6351, +372 5190 2837
gunnar.paal@riigikogu.ee
Questions: press@riigikogu.ee
Link uudisele: The Riigikogu deliberated a Bill on Maritime Safety and heard the replies to eight interpellations
Source: Parliament of Estonia