The slight recession in the Finnish economy is also reflected in the decrease in volume of cargo passing through Finland’s main seaport for foreign trade. However, passenger traffic has remained busy.

“I am glad to say that the travel volumes have continued to recover well from the pandemic. In cargo transport, the near future will be challenging, but we anticipate a turn for the better next year,” says Ville Haapasaari, CEO of the Port of Helsinki.

Between January and September, the total cargo traffic via the Port of Helsinki amounted to 10.4 million tonnes, which was 9.1% less than the corresponding period of the previous year, which reached a record high in cargo volumes. Of this amount, 4.7 million tonnes (-13.4%) was in import and 5.4 million tonnes (-8.8%) in exports.

The amount of unitised cargo traffic* was 8.7 million tonnes, which was 9.4% less than in the corresponding period of the previous year. Container traffic decreased by 12.3% in terms of tonnes, while the decrease in wheeled traffic** was 8.1%. 

Travel by ship remains popular

In the Port of Helsinki’s liner passenger traffic, there were 6.9 million passengers from January to September, which is 15.4% more than in the corresponding period of the previous year. 

A total of 5.5 million passengers travelled on the busiest shipping route between Helsinki and Tallinn from January to September. Furthermore, traffic to and from Stockholm was also busy, particularly in the summer. The route was travelled by 1.2 million passengers.

The international cruise season ran from mid-April to the end of September. During that time, Helsinki was visited by 90 ships and nearly 163,000 cruise passengers. 
Moreover, the ships carried a significantly higher number of passengers compared to the previous year. 

Read more about the latest cruise season

* Most of the cargo transported via the Port of Helsinki is unitised cargo from Finland’s foreign trade, i.e. cargo transported in containers, lorries and trailers.
** Wheeled traffic = goods transported by trucks, lorries and trailers.

Enquiries:
Port of Helsinki port statistics, January–September 2023

email: mediadesk(at)portofhelsinki.fi
media telephone during office hours: +358 40 506 5280