Helsinki Port forecasts slow cargo handling in 2023 after record year

Cargo handling at Helsinki Port is projected to slow down in 2023 due to the general weakening of economic outlooks, high inflation, the energy crisis and the reduction of consumer purchasing power, said the Port of Helsinki in a press release on Wednesday.

The total cargo handling at the Port in 2022 was 15.2 million tonnes, which was 5.6% higher compared to the previous year.

The amount surpassed the previous record of 14.7 metric tonnes handled in 2018 by a clear margin.

Out of the total cargos, 7.7 million tonnes were exported and 7.3 million tonnes were imported.

“An all-time record amount of goods were transported via our ports last year. The significant growth in cargo traffic continued until late August, after which it slowed down to slightly lower rates than the previous year,” said Ville Haapasaari, Managing Director of Port of Helsinki Ltd recently.

“Despite the uncertain operating environment, our traffic volume grew more than the market at large.”

Most of the goods transported via the Port of Helsinki are unitized cargo for Finland’s foreign trade, i.e. cargo transported on lorries, trailers and containers.

In 2022, the amount of unitized cargo was 12.6 million tonnes (+ 3.8%) in total. Of this, a total of 6.7 million tonnes were exports and 5.9 million tonnes imports.

A total of 700,000 lorries and trailers transported 8.8 million tonnes (+ 5.1%) of goods.

A total of 492,000 TEUs (Twenty Equivalent Units) of containers were transported and the amount of container cargo in tonnes was 3.8 million, which was 5.4% higher from the previous year.

“The number of passengers doubled compared to the previous pandemic year 2021, and it looks like we will continue to bounce back during this year, as well,” Haapasaari said.

“The pandemic was generally contained from March onwards and society started to open up on a larger scale once more. Ship travel livened up again as a result. Nevertheless, Asian tourists are still mainly absent from ships,” said the MD.

Passenger traffic, which came to a near complete stop due to the COVID-19 pandemic, started to recover slowly over the course of the year.

A total of nearly 8 million passengers used liner traffic, which was 112.7% more than the previous year. There were 6.3 million passengers on the Helsinki–Tallinn route, 1.4 million on the Stockholm route and 152,000 passengers on the Helsinki–Travemünde route.

The international cruise traffic season was quiet. A total of 162,000 passengers aboard 164 vessel calls explored Helsinki and the Helsinki region.

Many more vessel calls had been booked in advance. However, some of the calls were cancelled when cruises to St. Petersburg were called off following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

No major uptick is expected in international cruise traffic. Reaching passenger volumes preceding the COVID-19 pandemic in liner traffic is expected to take 2–3 years, even though the current trend is positive.