Covid-19, Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Tourism, Transport

Statistics Estonia analyst Birgitta Ojamaa said it can be clearly seen that passenger traffic through ports was affected by the movement restrictions of the emergency situation. "In the second quarter, 558,300 passengers used the services of Estonian ports for international transport, and in the first quarter, 1.6 million passengers. In the second quarter of last year, however, there were 2.9 million ship passengers," Ojamaa said in a press release.

The analyst added that in the second quarter, cruise passengers could not visit Estonia because these trips were canceled due to the emergency situation.

Altogether 82% fewer passengers arrived by ship from abroad than last year. The number of arrivals from Finland fell by 77% and from Sweden by 92%. However, the number of passengers to Finland decreased by 79% and to Sweden by 90%.

Estonian maritime transport companies made 4,965 voyages on regular routes, three quarters of which were voyages on the main domestic routes.

Compared to the second quarter of the previous year, the number of trips decreased by a fifth, on international routes by 41% and on the main domestic routes by 16%. Compared to last year, there were 71% fewer passengers on regular routes, 82% fewer on international routes and 43% fewer on the main domestic routes.

Altogether 500,700 vehicles were transported by ship through ports. Of these, 57% were passenger cars and 40% were trucks and trailers, the rest were buses and other vehicles. In the second quarter, 42% fewer vehicles were transported through Estonian ports than in the previous year, 31% less domestically.

A total of 10 million tons of goods were transported through Estonian ports, which is approximately the same as in the second quarter of the previous year. More than half of the transported goods were transit goods. Approximately a quarter of the goods were loaded in ports for transportation abroad and approximately a fifth of the goods were unloaded from ships in Estonian ports.

The main group of goods transported by sea was coke and refined oil products, which were mostly transported in transit and accounted for a third of all goods handled in Estonian ports.

Another large group of goods was chemicals, chemical, rubber and plastic products, which accounted for one-fifth of the goods transported and also moved mainly in transit.

The transport of coke and oil products increased by 6% compared to the previous year, while the transport of chemicals and rubber products increased by 12%.