Today, Tallink Grupp published its interim report for the first six months of 2018. According to the report, during the six months (January - June), the group transported a total of 4.6 million passengers, which is 0.8% or nearly 35,000 passengers more than in the same period last year. During the period, the group’s cargo transportation saw a steady increase with 9.2% more cargo units transported on all the group’s routes in total in the first six months in 2018 compared to the same period in 2017.
At the same time, sales revenue decreased by 2.6% in the first six months of 2018 compared to the same period last year, providing the group with 439.6 million euros of unaudited revenue by the end of the period. The group’s unaudited net loss in the first half of the year amounted to 4.3 million euros (net loss of 2.4 million euros in the same period in 2017).
The number of passengers increased on almost all of the company’s routes during the first six months of 2018. Although the most notable growth of 11.4% in passenger numbers compared to the previous year was on the Latvia-Sweden route, the stable growth in the number of passengers on the Estonia-Sweden route, which amounted to 3.3%, and on the Estonia-Finland route with the strongest competition (an increase of 1.8% on the previous year) is also positive. The number of passenger vehicles transported in the first six months of 2018 also increased by 1.3% with a total of 533 710 vehicles transported compared to the same period in 2017 when 527 118 vehicles were transported.
The lion’s share of the cargo units transported by the group was carried on the Estonia-Finland route, which saw a total of 122,914 cargo units transported in the first six months of the year, which is 10.4% more than in the same period last year. The number of cargo units transported also increased on the Estonia-Sweden route, where it amounted to a total of 25,124 cargo units, which is 16.6% more than last year. The most notable growth in the number of cargo units transported was on the Latvia-Sweden route, where a total of 7 832 cargo units were transported, which is 45.8% more than in the same period last year.
„The results were significantly impacted by the increase in fuel prices in global markets compared to the same period last year. The decline in the absolute number of passengers on the Tallinn-Helsinki route in the second quarter of 2018 according to the Port of Tallinn statistics has also had an impact on the wider market and the competitive landscape, although Tallink has managed to increase both passenger numbers and market share on this route as a result of investments made by the company.
“The excise duty levels in place in Estonia also have an impact on the results and affect the Estonian tourism and service sectors negatively as a whole. In today’s world, where the travel and recreational choices are increasingly abundant in the target markets for our services, every aspect is important in keeping Estonia attractive as a tourism destination,“ Paavo Nõgene, CEO of Tallink Grupp, said.