Opportunities for Cooperation between Estonia and ... - Valitsus

APPENDIX 6
TRAFFIC AND TRANSPORTATION
Traffic and logistics represent a strategically central sector for Estonia and
Finland. In particular, the services between the two countries across the Gulf of
Finland are of special importance. For the transport industries of both countries,
transit traffic plays major role. The Estonian and Finnish governments invest
heavily in traffic and transport policy both in their bilateral relations and at the
Union level. Cooperation between the Baltic Rim countries, including Russia, is
also essential. Problems with border-crossings and long queues at Narva and
Vaalimaa are real problems shared by Estonia and Finland as they complicate
flexible trading with Russia.
Transportation and warehousing constitute an indivisible logistic operation.
The further development of logistics systems in Estonia and Finland may be
significantly affected by how the Asian economies, and particularly that of
China, are integrated with the European economy and how the flows of goods
are organized between them. In the future, production processes may divided
between the dispatching and receiving countries in such a way that the final
products may be assembled en route or only after they have arrived in the
receiving country.
The planned Northern Dimension Partnership in Transport and Logistics may
open up new opportunities for Estonia and Finland to pursue their interests and
objectives. By means of the new partnership, it may be possible to promote
projects related to north-south routes and the Baltic Motorway of the Sea.
Geographic location and growth centres play a central part in the economic
developments of the regions. In a networked economy, the critical factors
are accessibility, delivery times, the frequency of deliveries, and the cost of
transportation. The creation of growth centres and the development of related
transport services are influenced by the law of supply and demand.
When calculations are made on the profitability of investments in the traffic
infrastructure, an attempt is made to estimate the utilization rate of the
infrastructure and the operating cost per single user in order to identify the
best and most appropriate solutions for the needs of the transport services in
terms of cost efficiency.
Flight connections between Helsinki and Tallinn work smoothly. Unfortunately,
the introduction of new services between other Finnish and Estonian towns
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