Year in review: Port of Tallinn’s most important events and projects in 2017

Here’s an overview of the most remarkable events and the most important projects for Port of Tallinn in 2017.
 

Old City Harbour’s Masterplan 2030

Port of Tallinn launched the competition for ideas for the development plans or Masterplan 2030 for the Old City Harbour in 2016 with the aim of finding a comprehensive, long-term solution to form the basis for property development in the port area and to connect city and public space with the functions of the port. Port of Tallinn plans to introduce more urban development to the Old City Harbour alongside its port functions and to transform the area into an urban space that is both attractive and easy to traverse.

In August 2017, an internationally acknowledged architectural bureau of Zaha Hadid Architects was announced as the winner of the Masterplan competition for the Old City Harbour in Tallinn. The document of the Masterplan 2030 was drawn up in December. As a next step, the first detailed plans will be launched in 2018 and suitable business models will be developed to implement the development.

 


Launching of the Smart Port system and creating a new check-in area

On October 3, 2017, the Smart Port system was launched at Old City Harbour’s A-terminal for the passengers travelling with vehicles on Eckerö Line, Viking Line and Moby SPL ships. The Smart Port system means that before and after the check-in the vehicles will be directed to the ship using the electronic displays and thanks to the automatic licence plate recognition the check-in personnel have more information about the arriving vehicle and the booms will open automatically for cargo vehicles. This will make the procedure of boarding the ship so much more convenient and faster!

In connection with the Smart Port system, the Logi street was reconstructed and new gates and vehicle waiting areas were built to move the entire vehicles’ check-in area to one location by June, 2017. With the new traffic scheme driving on to the ships of Eckerö Line, Viking Line and Moby SPL was changed.

 


Opening of the Muuga-Vuosaari shipping line

In October, the ferry operator Tallink, in partnership with Port of Tallinn and Transiidikeskuse Ltd., re-routed its cargo ship Sea Wind to start operating from Muuga Harbour instead of Tallinn Old City Harbour. This means that more than 40,000 trucks per year will be removed from Tallinn city centre and congestion and pollution in the city will be significantly reduced.

 


Number of passengers hit the all-time record

In 2017 the harbours of Port of Tallinn were passed by approximately 10.5 million passengers, which is 325,000 passengers more than a year before. In 2017, the number of cruise passengers in Tallinn also hit a record. During the cruise season cruise ships called Tallinn 311 times and brought more than 560,000 cruise passengers to our capital city. Saaremaa Harbour had 5 cruise ship calls with a total of 1,513 passengers.

 


Starting to operate with new ferries

In 2017 three new ferries arrived to Estonia and started to operate between Estonia’s mainland and biggest islands Saaremaa and Hiiumaa. The ferry Tõll started operating the Kuivastu-Virtsu line on January 22nd, the ferry Tiiu started operating the Heltermaa-Rohuküla line on April 9th and the ferry Piret the same line on April 12th. With the new ferries, Port of Tallinn’s subsidiary TS Laevad Ltd. ensures a comfortable and stable ferry traffic between Estonia’s mainland and biggest islands. The aim of TS Laevad Ltd. is to be a reliable partner for the state, as well as for the passengers and to bring the ferry traffic service up to the next level in cooperation with the people of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa.

 


Initiating innovation projects

Port of Tallinn aims to become the most innovative port on the shores of the Baltic Sea. In 2017 several innovative projects were initiated.

On January 30th 2017 a Single Window co-operation agreement was signed between Port of Tallinn, Estonia’s biggest logistics companies, organizations of the logistics field, universities and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications. The aim is to harmonize digital data exchange in Estonian logistics and transport field by eliminating the need of inserting same data multiple times. The ultimate goal is to transform the information exchange and make it fully paperless. This would enable to exchange data with better quality, to reduce the possibility of human error, to increase the visibility of supply chain for all parties, to allow greater security of the entire supply chain and, most importantly, to offer measurable results in saving time and money.

Also, in May 2017, a hackathon-type Innovation Day was organized for the employees of Port of Tallinn to bring innovative ideas closer to the employees and solve some current problems or find new solutions to improve business activities. As a result, several exciting innovative projects are already being developed and the results can be seen in the new year.  

 


The all-time highest dividend payment for the owner

In the spring of 2017, EUR 48m was transferred to the state budget as a dividend payment from the Port of Tallinn. The income tax in the amount of EUR 12m was added to the payment. This was the highest dividend payment ever.

 


The all-time highest debt capital attraction of EUR 105m for 10 years

In November 2017 Port of Tallinn and Swedbank signed a contract for issuing 10-year bonds. The issue volume was EUR 105m and it was fully subscribed by Swedbank, who became also the biggest lender of Port of Tallinn. As a result of the transaction, the structure of the company’s short and long-term liabilities normalized and the average interest margin of the company’s interest bearing debt decreased to 0.93%.

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