The passenger volumes of AS Tallinna Sadam increased by seven percent during the past year, reaching an all-time record of 8.48 million passengers; the cargo volumes of the enterprise remained unchanged.
According to Ain Kaljurand, Chair of the Management Board of AS Tallinna Sadam, last year was characterised primarily by an increase of the passenger volumes, both on regular lines and cruises. “This is partly caused by new shipping lines and development projects, the most significant among them being the opening of a line to St. Petersburg and the first-time use of Tallinn as a point of departure and destination for cruises; Tallinn’s status as the Culture Capital of Europe had certainly an effect as well,” said Kaljurand.
“In cargo shipping almost all cargo types showed an increase of volumes, mainly regarding liquid cargoes and container shipments; only bulk cargoes decreased and this was due to a reduction of coal volumes,” noted Kaljurand.
“We forecast a continued growth of the share of container shipments in the coming years, and also an actual competition emerging which will help enliven the field even more and will allow us to retain our leading position in comparison with other harbours of the Baltic Sea,” said Kaljurand.
The harbours of AS Tallinna Sadam served a record amount of passengers during the past year – 8.48 million; with that year, the passenger volumes increased by 0.56 million passengers, i.e. by 7%. The number of passengers did not decrease on any line. The St. Petersburg – Tallinn line which opened in that year served 114 thousand passengers and the amounts of traditional cruise passengers grew by 13, reaching a total of 443 thousand passengers.
The total cargo volume of AS Tallinna Sadam was 36.5 million tonnes, which means a decrease by 0.2 million tonnes, i.e. -0.5% when compared to year 2010. Still, the only type of cargoes which decreased was bulk cargoes (by 1.4 million tonnes, i.e. -26%); the volumes of other cargo types increased. The strongest growth was experienced in liquid cargo handling where the increase made up 0.6 million tonnes, i.e. 2% when compared to the same period of the year before. Other significantly growing cargo types in comparison with year 2010 were container shipments (0.23 million tonnes, i.e. 18%), rolling cargoes (0.17 million tonnes, i.e. 5%) and mixed cargoes (0.14 million tonnes, i.e. 27%).