Port of Tallinn’s achievements and influential events in 2022

Company

Port of Tallinn  30

Port of Tallinn turned 30 on April 1, 2022. During this period, the company has gone through pivotal events and grown into one of the most important cargo and passenger port complexes in the Baltic Sea Region. During peak times, our harbours have been visited by over 10 million passengers and over 40 million tons of goods have gone through the harbours of Port of Tallinn.

The state-owned company Port of Tallinn was established in 1992, then the company owned the Tallinn City Centre port (Kesklinna) with its subdivisions on the islands and the mainland, also  port of Muuga and the port of Kopli. Paldiski South Harbour was merged with Port of Tallinn in 1993. In 1996, the state-owned company Port of Tallinn was transformed into a joint-stock company, with the sole owner the state of Estonia. Since 2018, Port of Tallinn is a listed company, whose shares are listed on the Nasdaq Tallinn Stock Exchange.

The renewed strategy and digital strategy of Port of Tallinn

The new Supervisory Board of Port of Tallinn confirmed the renewed strategy of the company. 2023-2027 strategy equally focuses on all four business areas (cargo, passengers, real estate and shipping) and describes the long-term vision of the business areas and the most important focus projects.

The purpose of the digital strategy this year is to describe a longer-term view of digitization, to focus on business-critical solutions and to support the vision of becoming the most innovative port in the Baltic Sea. The strategy consists of four modules: background system of the business environment, digital port vision, 2023-2024 development plans and the organization.

Port of Tallinn is the co-founder of the Estonian Hydrogen Valley

Public and private sector partners laid the foundation for the creation of the Estonian Hydrogen Valley, the goal of which is to form a comprehensive nationwide hydrogen value chain within the next six years, to accelerate the country’s transition to the green economy and energy independence under the motto “from zero to green”.

The founding members of Estonian Hydrogen Valley are Port of Tallinn, Tallinn Airport, Alexela, Eesti Energia, City of Tartu, Tartu Terminal, University of Tartu, Pärnu Municipality and Saaremaa, who are responsible for the construction, management and international recognition of Estonia’s hydrogen strategy so that Estonia becomes part of the North Sea-Baltic Corridor ( in addition to the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark).

Port of Tallinn stopped operations in the port of Paljassaare

Due to the limited business development opportunities in Paljassaare, Port of Tallinn decided in 2017 to give up running and managing the port of Paljassaare. At the same time, Port of Tallinn started the process of exiting the operation of the port and the gradual transfer of assets. As a result of a long procedural process, in 2022 the Transport Board satisfied the application of Port of Tallinn and OÜ Hundipea and carried out the change for the port operator, according to which OÜ Hundipea is the operator of Paljassaare port from 10.08.2022.

 

Passengers

The front of the D-terminal got a new look

Port of Tallinn took another step in connecting the City Center to the seaside with the reconstruction of the front area of the D-terminal. A pedestrian-friendly City square with abundant greenery has been built in place of the previous lifless parking lot, this offers an additional place to spend time to the locals and an attractive and convenient connection to the City Center for ship passengers. The total cost of the project was 6.7 MLN ( EU contribution 30%). The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) co-financed the construction works under the Action No. 2019-EU-TM-0192-W (TWIN PORT IV).

The restoration of the Tallinn-Helsinki line and the new passenger ship MyStar in Old City Harbour

After the pandemic, the number of passengers on the Tallinn-Helsinki line is recovering rapidly. Compared to last year, the number of people traveling between the two capitals has more than doubled, primarily at the expense of Finns. In December, Tallink launched a brand new and more environmentally friendly ship MyStar. To serve the passengers of the new ship, a new landing bridge and a passenger gallery on the 2nd floor of berth 5 were built. The total cost of the construction works for the gangway and connection bridge of quay No 5 was EUR 2.2 million (EU contribution 30%). The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) co-financed the works under the Action No. 2019-EU-TM-0192-W (TWIN-PORT IV).

The recovery of cruise shipping – cruise visits in Tallinn and Saaremaa

In 2022 cruise season, cruise ships stopped in Tallinn 170 times and brought more than 170 thousand passengers to explore our capital, compared to the year before, there were significantly more visits and passengers. This season, cruise ships also arrived at the port of Saaremaa again  after a break, where this time there were a total of 9 visits.

Cargo

Paldiski 6a quay investment decision

The supervisory Board of Port of Tallinn decided to invest in Paldiski South Harbour to build a new 310-meter quay. Due to the favorable location of the Paldiski South Harbour, the construction of a new quay creates the prerequisites for the Port of Tallinn to become an important partner in the construction and subsequent maintenance of offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea. The new quay with the stern is also necessary to ensure military purposes and to increase the sea transport capacity of goods and vehicles. The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) will co-finance (50%) the construction works under the project no 101078924 — 21-EE-TM-EstMilMob — CEF-T-2021-MILMOB

The 13th quay ramp was completed in Muuga Harbour

A double ramp was completed at the 13th quay of Muuga Harbour, which means that two car decks of a ro-ro ship can be served at the same time. As planned, the Eckerö Line ship Finbo Cargo, which serves the Muuga-Vuosaari line, will use the ramp. The total cost of the project was EUR 5 million (EU contribution 30%). The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) co-financed the construction works under the Action No. 2019-EU-TM-0192-W (TWIN-PORT IV).

Estonia’s largest container cranes started working in Muuga Harbour

HHLA TK Estonia, a terminal operator operating in Muuga Harbour, put into operation Estonia’s largest container cranes, which will serve the largest cargo ships in the Baltic Sea and enable to multiply the volume of trade. The increased container handling capacity will undoubtedly increase the attractiveness of Muuga Harbour as a multimodal logistics hub for trade in the region.

The amber train made its first run

In September, the first Amber Train left Muuga harbour railway station, which creates a rail corridor through the Baltic countries for freight transport between Northern and Western Europe. The potential customers of the amber train are companies that want to export goods from the Nordic countries or Estonia to Western Europe and vice versa. Rail transportation consumes 4 times less fuel, emits 6 times less CO2 and is 28 times safer than road transport.

 

Real Estate

Sketches of the detailed plans of Old city Harbour  areas were made public

In December 2022, Tallinn City Centre Administration and the Urban Planning Department put on public display the starting positions and sketch solutions of the four areas in Old City Harbour. The public display is followed by a public discussion, preparation and establishment of detailed plans. The real estate developments of the Old City Harbour have a significant impact on the future revenues of Port of Tallinn as well as on the creation of a user-friendly and attractive urban space in the region.

The ground lease has been set for the property of Laeva 5

A subsidiary of U.S. Invest AS, La Marina OÜ and Port of Tallinn signed a 50-year ground lease agreement for the development of the Laeva 5 property located by the Admiralty Basin in Old City Harbour. A three-story restaurant building will be built on the property and the surrounding area will be transformed into an attractive urban space. The building will be called „La Marina“.

The Cruise Terminal received several awards

The Cruise Terminal, completed last year, received several valuable awards this year:

The Cultural Endowment of Estonia’s main prize in the field of architecture – “New space” category, in addition to the Architect’s annual prize.

„Concrete Building of the year“ from the Association of Construction Material Producers of Estonia and The Estonian Concrete Association.

The Cruise Terminal with an open promenade was also nominated for the 2022 ESPO Award (European SeaPorts Organization). It is an award that recognizes the role of ports in improving connections to the city and providing added value to the local community.

Cruise Terminal architecture, interior, landscape: Ralf Lõoke, Maarja Kask, Ragnar Põllukivi, Marja Viltrop, Margus Tamm (Salto), Villem Tomiste (Stuudio Tallinn), Maarja Gustavson (Polka).

In addition, on behalf of the The Union of Estonian Architects the Head of the Development Department of Port of Tallinn, Hele-Mai Metsal was recognized with the Medal of Merit fo the best project order and Port of Tallinn Head of Project Management Department Riho Joala, was awarded the Merit Medal for the best project manager.

Shipping

Extension of the summer contract of the icebreaker Botnica

TS Shipping OÜ, a subsidiary of Port of Tallinn, and Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation extended the 5-year contract concluded in 2018 for chartering the icebreaker Botnica in the summer period of 2023. Baffinland has a call option to continue chartering Botnica on the same terms from the end of June until the end of November. More detailed decisions regarding the length of the scrap period will be made by Baffinland in February at the deadline for notification of exercise of the option.

 

The passenger ferry Tõll was restored as a hybrid ship

The hybrid system was restored on the passenger ferry Tõll, operating between mainland and the biggest island in Estonia, Saaremaa. The hybrid system did not work for a while due to an accident in 2021. Ferry Tõll is the first ship of Port of Tallinn subsidiary TS Laevad OÜ that sails as an environmentally friendly hybrid ship. For driving as a hybrid, battery banks installed on the ship are used, which make it possible to partially drive on electric energy, significantly reducing the amount of diesel fuel, noise and air pollution.