Port of Tallinn sales revenue for the first 3 months of 2012 grew by 4%

The consolidated sales revenue of the Port of Tallinn for the first 3 months of 2012 was 24.8 million euros according to unaudited data, growing by 1.0 million euros or 4% compared to the same period last year. The company’s net profit was 14.5 million euros, an increase of 1.5 million euros or almost 12% compared to the same period last year.

The company’s EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) was a total of 19.0 million euros, growing by 1.4 million euros or 8% compared to last year’s period. The growth of net profit and EBITDA was due to the one-time income of 1.0 million euros gained from the sale of capital assets. Also, the growth of income exceeded the growth of operating expenses by almost 0.4 million euros and the net financial expenses decreased by 0.2 million euros. The growth of sales revenue occurred mostly due to the increase in port service and mediated energy service income.

The trade volume for the first 3 months of 2012 turned out to be 8.3 million tons, a decrease of 0.9 million tons or 9%. The decrease was caused by the loss in liquid cargo volume that could not be compensated by the increases in other cargo types. The loss of trade volume also meant a drop in the region’s port chart from the third position to fifth, compared to last year, due to the trade volume increase in the ports of Riga and Ventspils that had so far been outranked.

The trade volume of the Port of Tallinn grew in all cargo types, except liquid and mixed cargo. The biggest increase was in sold bulk goods the volume of which grew by 0.2 million tons or 32% compared to last year. Compared to 2011, increases among the more important cargo types also occurred in the volume of containers – 0.08 million tons or 22% (the increase in TEUs was 29%) – and rolling cargo – 0.05 million tons or 6%. The volume of liquid cargo dropped by 1.2 million tons or 18%. In terms of transport schema, the main decrease happened in the cargo arriving by rail. A slight decrease was also present in the liquid cargo transport method ship-terminal-ship (-6%) that has seen robust growth in recent years and made up about 33% of the total liquid cargo volume processed during the first 3 months.

Despite the loss of trade volume, the number of merchant ship visits actually increased and also supported the growth in port service revenue.

The number of passengers continued its growth and the 3 month total again reached a record 1.66 million passengers, an increase of 0.08 million passengers or 5% compared to the same period last year. Passenger numbers grew on all shipping lines, but the biggest increase (0.06 million passengers) was mainly caused by the growing numbers on the passenger line Tallinn-Helsinki. The number of passengers on the Tallinn-St. Petersburg line reached 24 thousand passengers.