Elections, Good for Business, Port, Tourism, Transport

The biggest increase in passenger numbers was registered on the Finland-Sweden routes, where the company carried 1.7 % more passengers in 2019 than in 2018. In total the company transported 2,894,494 passengers on the Finland-Sweden routes in 2019, compared with 2,845,616 passengers transported in 2018.

Passenger numbers increased also on the Estonia-Finland and Latvia-Sweden routes, by 0.7 % and 0.5 % respectively. On the Estonia-Finland routes the company carried 5,115,602 passengers, up from 5,079,861 passengers in 2018, while on the Latvia-Sweden route it transported 799,961 passengers, up from 796,041 passengers in 2018. The number of passengers declined compared to 2018 only on the Estonia-Sweden routes, where the company carried 953,153 passengers in 2019, 7.9% less than in 2018, when passengers on these routes numbered 1,035,093.

The number of passenger vehicles transported increased on the Finland-Sweden routes but decreased on all other routes. In total, Tallink Grupp transported 1,110,314 passenger vehicles in 2019, 1.3 % less than in 2018. The number of cargo units transported by the company in 2019 also increased on the Finland-Sweden routes and the Latvia-Sweden route but decreased on other routes. In total, the company transported 379,634 units of cargo in 2019, which is 1.4 % less than in 2018.

"Considering the fact that our operations were affected by the planned dockings of several of our vessels in the first quarter of 2019, that the economic tensions both in our home markets as well as globally increased in 2019 and that competition on our routes increased, it is extremely positive that we have still managed to achieve growth in our passenger numbers in 2019," Paavo Nogene, CEO of Tallink Grupp, said.

The CEO described the record numbers as being largely the result of a strong high season, during which Tallink carried a record number of more than one mln passengers in several consecutive months.

Nogene said the results for the fourth quarter were also impacted by the postal strike in Finland in November and early December, which meant that Tallink's traditional Christmas offers did not reach many of their Club One customers in time and a decline was observed in the usual pre-Christmas travel among Tallink's Finnish loyalty program members.

"It is thus all the more positive that despite this hindrance, the numbers of passengers and passenger vehicles for the fourth quarter are still higher than those for the fourth quarter in 2018," Nogene added.

"The decline in the number of passenger vehicles carried, but the decline in the number of cargo units carried even more so, are definitely topics that we are dealing with very seriously in the business. In the competitive environment, which tightened significantly in 2019, we must take action in the cargo transportation area in 2020 and adjust our operations according to the changed environment to ensure we turn the declining trend around again into a positive one. We are working on this already today," the CEO said.

The year 2020 is promising to be a busy and exciting one for Tallink, Nogene added. In the area of its core business, Tallink is  about to start the construction of its new LNG powered vessel, MyStar, at the Rauma shipyard in Finland, whereas in the area of shore trade its is about to expand the Burger King franchise acquired last year rapidly across the Baltic states.