by Przemysław Myszka

Although we had to jam another corona year into the Baltic world of transport & logistics, which particularly crossed the ferry & cruise sector, 2021 wasn't lean on the whole.

Several themes recurred over the past 12 months, most notably decarbonisation in various forms: alternative fuels, onshore power supply, and offshore wind energy, to name but a few.

Port development also kept strong. The seaports of Esbjerg and Gothenburg can reasonably be named as the two most active, with notable mentions of Gdynia and Tallinn for opening brand-new and modern facilities (the latter of a ferry and the former of a cruise terminal).

Interestingly, the logistics warehousing industry also took a hefty bite of worthwhile news, especially across Sweden.

Traditionally, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and its environmentally-friendlier version (bioLNG) made advances in the regional field.

To top it all with shipping, what is said to be the world's northernmost regular passenger service, Wasaline’s Umeå-Vaasa route, welcomed (in the teeth of a COVID stumbling) Aurora Botnia. This made-in-Finland spick-and-span ferry has indisputably made crossing the Kvarken an even more unique experience.

The Baltic transport & logistics industry continued to catch the wave in 2021 - or more precisely wind, as the region's Norsepower carried on developing its increasingly popular auxiliary wind propulsion system.

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