Estonia, Financial Services, Legislation, Port, Tourism, Transport

Edgar Savisaar, Mayor of Tallinn, has sent a letter to Ain Kaljurand, CEO of Port of Tallinn, with a proposal to transfer half of 1.36 euros that the port is charging every cruise tourist to the City of Tallinn, hinting that even though the Port of Tallinn is a state company, the port is located on the territory of Tallinn, informs LETA.

Since Port of Tallinn expects to receive 450,000 cruise tourists this year, it is looking at the income of 612,000 euros.

In a letter, Savisaar says that the City would like to continue its cooperation with the Port of Tallinn, and expects the Port to contribute to the City in exchange for providing a high quality urban environment for cruise tourists who visit Tallinn.

Port of Tallinn is expecting a total of 300 cruise ship visits during this cruise season, of these three to Saaremaa Island. Sven Ratassepp, spokesman for Tallinna Sadam, said that this year's traditional cruise season would start on May 3, 2012.

As reported, unaudited consolidated sales of Port of Tallinn in 2011 hit an all-time record worth 89.2 million euros, growing 2.3 million or three% in comparison with the last year.

The net profit of the company before considering the impact of dividends, income tax, expenses and asset sales income reached 41.3 million euros, growing by 1.6 million euros or four% compared to the last year.

The record-breaking 8.48 million passengers passed last year through the harbors considered to be a part of the Port of Tallinn; the annual passenger number growth was 0.56 million passengers or 7%.