Tallink Grupp’s September statistics show improvement on last year
Tallink Grupp has published to the stock exchange the company’s 2021 September and third quarter passenger and cargo transport statistics.
According to the statistics, the month of September in 2021 was stronger than in 2020 with passenger, passenger car and transported cargo unit numbers all higher this year than last year. The number of passengers transported in September 2021 was 27.6% higher with a total of 310 265 passengers transported on all the company’s routes (243 215 passengers in September 2020). The number of passenger vehicles and cargo units transported both increased by 4% in September 2021 compared to the same month in 2020, with 64 610 passenger vehicles transported in September 2021 (62 138 in September 2020) and 33 982 cargo units transported in September 2021 (32 672 units in September 2020). The increase in 2021 was largely due to an improved COVID pandemic situation compared to the same period in 2020 and the Tallinn-Stockholm and Helsinki-Stockholm routes partly back in operation in 2021.
The statistics for the third quarter as a whole, however, show a more negative trend compared to the same period in 2020. The total number of passengers carried in the quarter was 1 144 092, which is 13% less than in the same quarter in 2020 (1 314 301 passengers in Q3 2020). The number of passenger vehicles transported in Q3 2021 totalled 229 468, which is 16.8% less than in the same quarter last year (275 735 vehicles in Q3 2020). Similarly, the number of cargo units carried on all the company’s routes in Q3 this year showed a slight decrease compared to the same period in 2020, totalling 90 538 units (91 578 in Q3 2020).
Commenting on the statistics, Paavo Nõgene, CEO of Tallink Grupp said:
„The quarter three periods in 2020 and 2021 have been almost like a mirror image of one another: whereas the first month and a half of Q3 in 2020 were fairly positive after the lifting of restrictions and the second half of the quarter became negative with the looming second wave of the COVID pandemic, then Q3 of this year has been fairly reserved in terms of passenger numbers in the first two months due to many ongoing restrictions, and only now in September are we seeing some increases in numbers and also near future bookings. However, the numbers are still far off from what we were used to in this quarter in the pre-COVID times and we don’t foresee great increases in passenger numbers before next spring or summer. This is the reality we face and it is clear that the travel industry will have another very difficult low autumn-winter season ahead.
“While we must keep our sights on next year and we make plans for a return to travelling after the winter, we must ensure we optimise our operations as much as possible now for the low season ahead and ensure that all our activities over the next five months until spring 2022 are as efficient as possible.”
In light of the need to optimise the company’s activities for the low season ahead and with bookings for the autumn-winter season increasing at a slower pace than expected, the company last week made the decision to temporarily suspend the operation of its vessels Baltic Queen, Silja Europa and Silja Serenade after the end of the Christmas school holidays in January. Silja Europa will operate some special cruises and charter cruises during the suspension period. Customers whose bookings are impacted by these decisions are being contacted by the company’s customer service teams and offered alternatives.
Further, the company will start operating its shuttle vessels Star and Megastar according to the traditional winter schedule from 16 October 2021 with the last departure of Saturday evening taking place at 19.30 and the first departure of Sunday morning taking place at 10.30 until spring 2022.
