In 2013 Port of Tallinn served record number of passengers, cargo handling declined slightly
Last year the number of passengers passing through the harbours of Port of Tallinn hit the whole time record of 9.236 million passengers, growing by 395 thousand passengers, which is 4.5% more than a year earlier, the port’s press release says. Cargo volume fell 4.2% reaching 28.25 million tons.
In 2013, the number of passengers on Tallinn-Helsinki route grew by 4.3% to 7.57 million people. During the period from January to December 935 thousand people travelled between Tallinn and Stockholm, St. Petersburg line carried 184 thousand people and cruise vessels brought to Estonia about 526 thousand cruise tourists.
In December Port of Tallinn served 748,210 passengers, which is 8% more than a year earlier. In the same period, cargo handling decreased by 3% (0.07 million tons) reaching 2.36 million tons. The cargo volume in December had an average result compared to other months. From cargo types the volume of liquid cargo changed the most, decreasing by 7%, which is 0.12 million tons. Volume of containers decreased first time this year in December, falling by 2%, which is 2 thousand tons and 42 TEUs. On the contrary, the volumes of dry bulk and rolling cargo increased by 40 and 11 thousand tons respectively.
During the entire year, Port of Tallinn handled 28.25 million tons of cargo, which is 4.2% less than in 2012. The decline is caused by the decrease of 19.7% in the volumes of dry bulk, mainly in regard to fertilizers, gravel and turf. At the same time, the cargo volumes of grain increased remarkably, namely by 56.5%. The handling of liquid bulk went through a decrease of 2% reaching 18.97 million tons. Volumes of general cargo increased by 3.9% to 567 thousand tons.
The volume of container shipments was at record level last year and reached 253,627 TEUs that is 11.3% more than a year earlier. Cargo volume shipped in containers increased by 8.3% to 1.775 million tons.
In 2013, the ports of Port of Tallinn were visited by a total of 1933 cargo vessels and 4933 passenger vessels.
For this year Port of Tallinn forecasts that cargo volume and passenger number remain on the same level as in 2013.