Sea passenger traffic rises in Q1 but cargo traffic falls

The number of ship passengers travelling through Helsinki was clearly increased in first quarter of this year from the same period in the previous year but cargo traffic was hindered early in the year by a strike in the stevedoring sector, said the Port of Helsinki in a press release on Wednesday.

The liner traffic of the Port of Helsinki had 1,606,000 passengers between January and March, marking a 58% increase from the previous year.

The busiest ship route was Helsinki-Tallinn, used by 1,287,000 passengers followed by Helsinki-Stockholm, which had about 281,000 passengers.

“From January to March, the amount of ship traffic between Tallinn and Helsinki nearly returned to the pre-pandemic level. The number of passengers on the Stockholm route is also comparable to that of 2019 when we factor in that the route now features three ships, whereas the pre-pandemic number was four,” said Port of Helsinki’s Vice-President Passenger Services Kaj Takolander.

Meanwhile, the two-week stevedore strike at the turn of February and March had an impact particularly on container traffic numbers early in the year.

In January–March, the total cargo traffic via the Port of Helsinki amounted to 3.5 million tonnes, which is 5.0% less than in the same period in the previous year.

Out of the cargo, 1.6 million tonnes was in import (minus 4.6%) and 1.8 million tonnes in export (+1.6%).