Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Port, Transport

Ships of Tallink Grupp carried 4.6 mln passengers during the six months, almost 35,000 passengers more than in the same period last year. The group's unaudited revenue for the period decreased by 2.6 % to 439.6 mln euros. Unaudited EBITDA for the first six months of the year totaled 47.7 mln euros, compared with 54.1 mln euros in the first six months of 2017, and unaudited net loss amounted to 4.3 mln euros, compared with 2.4 mln euros in the first six months of 2017.

Cargo carriage by the group continued robust growth, and during the first six months of the year 9.2% more cargo units were carried on all of the group's routes than in the same period of 2017, Tallink said.

The number of passengers grew on almost all routes operated by Tallink Grupp. The biggest increase was registered on the Latvia-Sweden route, 11.4%. On the Estonia-Sweden route an increase of 3.3% was registered and on the Estonia-Finland route an increase of 1.8%. The number of cars carried during the six months grew 1.3% to 533,710.

The biggest amount of cargoes was carried on the Estonia-Finland route, where 122,914 cargo units, 10.4% more than during the first six months of 2017, were carried. On the Estonia-Sweden route 25,124 cargo units were carried, representing an increase of 16.6%. The Latvia-Sweden operation saw a 45.8% surge in cargo units to 7,832.  

The CEO of Tallink Grupp, Paavo Nogene, said that the result was significantly affected by an increase in global fuel prices compared with the same period last year. Performance was also affected by the fact that, according to statistics of the port company Tallinna Sadam, a decline occurred in the absolute number of passengers in the second quarter. While Tallink managed to maintain its passenger numbers and market share thanks to the investments made, the decline has affected the broader competition situation, Nogene added.

The CEO said that also the higher excise duty rates in Estonia are affecting the results of the group and having a negative impact on the Estonian tourism and service sector as a whole.