The Tallinn-Helsinki crossing welcomed 7.0m travellers last year (+13.7% year-on-year), followed by 537k between Tallinn and Stockholm (+18.3% yoy), and 170k on the Muuga-Vuosaari service (+7.8% yoy).

On the other hand, fewer cruise guests came to visit the Estonian capital (-4.3% yoy to 165k).

Passengers categorised as 'others' totalled 45k (-47.8% yoy).

In addition, the port's domestic passenger company, TS Laevad, carried 2.41m passengers (+4.9% yoy) and 1.13m private vehicles (+3.3% yoy).

On the cargo front, the Port of Tallinn handled 12.59mt (-29.1% yoy), including 6.41mt of wheeled (ro-ro & ferry) cargo (-7% yoy), 2.16mt of dry bulk (-26.7% yoy), 1.88mt of containerised freight (-11.4% yoy), 1.7mt of liquid bulk (-67.1% yoy), 418kt of break-bulk (-31.6% yoy), and 24kt of non-marine cargo (-23.5% yoy).

Tallinn's container traffic amounted to 221,405 TEUs (-17.3% yoy).

"Thanks to the increase in the number of passengers, today we have two additional departures per day to Finland compared to the end of last year, which has a definite positive effect on our revenue base. The number of cruise ship calls decreased, but as the occupancy rate of cruise ships improved significantly, the volume of cruise passengers was almost at the same level as last year," commented Valdo Kalm, Chairman of the Port of Tallinn's Management Board.

He furthered, "Most of the decrease in cargo volume continues to be related to the decrease in cargo of Russian origin, mainly in liquid bulk. In 2022, the sanctions were applied gradually during the year until December, and thus there are still goods of Russian origin in the comparison period. The main reason for the decrease in other cargo types is the general economic situation of both Estonia and our main trading partners."