More passengers travel through Helsinki Port in 2024

Ship travel increased moderately in Helsinki in 2024, whereas cargo traffic volume level remained the same as the previous year, said the Port of Helsinki in a press release on Friday.

The volume of scheduled passenger traffic was 9.4 million passengers, and Helsinki was visited by nearly 139,000 international cruise ship passengers.

Although the travel seasons were quite busy in 2024, the slump in domestic housing construction resulted in less commuter traffic between Helsinki and Tallinn than usual.

The combined total number of passengers in scheduled passenger and international cruise ship traffic was 9.5 million.

The total volume of liner passenger traffic was 9.4 million passengers, which was 5.0% more than the previous year. The busiest route was once again the Helsinki-Tallinn route with 7.5 million passengers.

The Stockholm route was used by 1.6 million passengers and the route between Helsinki and Travemünde by 169,000 passengers.

“The number of ship passengers continued to increase moderately. The trend was positive, though growth could have been quicker, remaining at 5%. On both Tallinn and Stockholm routes, passenger numbers followed a steady growth curve, which we can be pleased about,” said Chief Executive Officer of the Port of Helsinki Ville Haapasaari.

The number of cruise ship calls during the international cruise season was 97. All in all, Helsinki was visited by nearly 139,000 international cruise passengers.

The Port of Helsinki Group’s total cargo traffic volume was 14.0 million tonnes.

“Cargo traffic increased as expected in the summer and early autumn, attesting to the appeal of the Port of Helsinki for lorry and trailer traffic. Logistics operators recognise our excellent location as regards imports and the flexible solutions that we offer for both container and RoRo traffic in terms of exports,” said Haapasaari.

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

The Port of Helsinki Group’s total cargo traffic volume was 14.0 million tonnes (0.5%).

In 2024, the volume of unitised cargo traffic was 12.2 million tonnes (5.9%). Of this amount, 6.7 million tonnes cargo traffic was in export (5.8%) and 5.5 million tonnes in import (6.0%).

All in all, 672,000 heavy vehicles transported a total of 8.8 million tonnes (8.1%) of cargo.

A total of 444,000 Twenty Equivalent Units (TEUs) containers were transported, which was 1.8% lower than the previous year. The amount of container cargo in tonnes was 3.4 million (0.7%).

The number of port calls by foreign ships was 7,220 (0.1%) and these ships carried 106.1 million tonnes of cargo (3.9%).

The number of coastal traffic ship calls was 79 (+46.3%). These vessels transported a total of 88,000 tonnes (-31.9%) of cargo.