Tallink Grupp has published its 2019 fourth quarter and December passenger and cargo statistics.
Tallink Grupp’s passenger figure continued the increase trend and the company carried a record number of 9 763 210 passengers on its vessels and routes in 2019, which is a 0.1% increase compared to 2018 (in 2018 the company carried a total of 9 756 611 passengers). The biggest increase in the number of passengers was on the Finland-Sweden routes, where the company transported 1.7% more passengers in 2019 than in 2018. In total the company transported 2 894 494 passengers on the Finland-Sweden routes in 2019 (in 2018 the figure was 2 845 616 passengers). The passenger numbers also increased on the Estonia-Finland and Latvia-Sweden routes, by 0.7% and 0.5% respectively. On the Estonia-Finland routes the company transported 5 115 602 passengers (5 079 861 passengers in 2018) and on the Latvia-Sweden route it transported 799 961 passengers (796 041 passengers in 2018). The number of passengers declined in 2019 compared to 2018 only on the Estonia-Sweden routes, where the company transported 953 153 passengers in 2019, which is a 7.9% decrease compared to 2018 (1 035 093 passengers in 2018).
The number of passenger vehicles in 2019 increased on the Finland-Sweden routes, but decreased on all the other routes. In total, Tallink Grupp transported 1 110 314 passenger vehicles in 2019, which is 1.3% less than in 2018 (1 124 693 vehicles in 2018). The number of cargo units transported by the company in 2019 also increased on the Finland-Sweden routes and Latvia-Sweden route and decreased on other routes. In total the company transported 379 634 units of cargo in 2019, which is 1.4% less than in 2018 (384 958 units in 2018).
„Considering the fact that our operations were affected by the planned dockings of several of our vessels in the first quarter of 2019, that the economic tensions both in our home markets as well as globally increased in 2019 and that competition on our routes increased, it is extremely positive that we have still managed to achieve growth in our passenger numbers in 2019. The record numbers are largely a result of a strong high season, during which we carried record numbers of over one million passengers in one month during a number of consecutive months,“ Paavo Nõgene, CEO of Tallink Grupp, said commenting on the results.
„The results of the fourth quarter were also impacted by the postal strike in Finland in November and early December 2019, which meant that our traditional Christmas offers did not reach many of our Club One customers in time and we can see a decline in the usual pre-Christmas travelling among our Finnish loyalty programme members. It is thus all the more positive that despite this hinderance, the numbers of passengers and passenger vehicles for the fourth quarter are still higher than those of the fourth quarter in 2018,“ Nõgene added.
„The decline in the number of passenger vehicles carried, but the decline in the number of cargo units carried even more so, are definitely topics that we are dealing with very seriously in the business. In the competitive environment, which tightened significantly in 2019, we must take action in the cargo transportation area in 2020 and adjust our operations according to the changed environment to ensure we turn the declining trend around again into a positive one. We are working on this already today,“ Nõgene said.
„The year 2020 is promising to be a busy and exciting one. In the area of our core business, we are about to start the construction of our new LNG vessel MyStar at the Rauma shipyard in Finland and in the area of our shore trade, we are about to expand rapidly in the Baltics with the Burger King franchise we acquired last year. At the same time, we are continuously keeping our eyes open for new and exciting opportunities across the globe with our experienced and knowledgeable team and we are ready to take up the right opportunities fast. The last 30 years have been very industrious and exciting for Tallink Grupp, but all 7000 plus Tallink Grupp employees are taking steps every day to ensure that the next 30 years will be even more exciting and with even more impressive results,“ Nõgene concluded.
AS Tallink Grupp is one of the leading providers of passenger transport and cargo transport services in the northern part of the Baltic Sea region. The company owns 14 vessels and operates seven ferry routes under the brand names of Tallink and Silja Line. AS Tallink Grupp employs over 7,400 people in Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Russia and Germany. In 2019, Tallink Grupp provided services to 9.8 million travellers and transported approximately 380,000 freight units of goods. The shares of Tallink Grupp are listed on the Tallinn Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Helsinki Stock Exchange.