WASHINGTON: Ports of the state-owned Estonian company Port of Tallinn handled in October 1.4 mln tons of cargoes, 776,000 tons less than a year earlier, while passenger flows grew by 19,000 to 805,244 people, reports LETA/BNS. Last month’s freight flows were affected the most by a 800,000 ton decrease in liquid cargoes while the changes in other groups of cargoes were smaller. The handling of containers and rolling stock grew by respectively 17% and 8%. The volume of containers measured in TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) increased by 11%, Port of Tallinn said. The January-October freight turnover was 11% smaller than a year ago at 17.1 mln tons. The decrease was due to the decline in liquid cargoes whereas the amounts of bulk goods and rolling stock increased.
The October passenger number is a new record for that month of the year and represents a year-on-year increase of 2.3%. As usual, the Tallinn-Helsinki route had the most passengers, 709,527 in all, who made up 88% of the total number. Passengers traveling between Tallinn and Stockholm numbered 75,768, accounting for 9%, and passengers on the Tallinn-St. Petersburg route numbered 12,157, accounting for 2%. Cruise passengers made up 1% of all passengers passing through the ports in October. The listed Estonian shipper Tallink carried 62%, Viking Line – 19 %, Eckero Line – 16 % and St. Peterline – 2% of the passengers. In ten months of this year Port of Tallinn served 8.7 mln passengers, 4% more than the year before. The ports received 451 visits by passenger ships and 153 visits by freight ships in October. The corresponding figures for the January-October period were 4,721 and 1,491, respectively.
