Year 2022: Record cargo at Helsinki ports
In 2022, a total of 15.2 million tonnes of goods were transported via the ports of Helsinki. This surpassed the previous record from 2018 (14.7 Mt) by a clear margin. Passenger traffic, which came to a near complete stop due to the COVID-19 pandemic, started to recover slowly over the course of the year.
“An all-time record amount of goods were transported via our ports last year. The significant growth in cargo traffic continued until late August, after which it slowed down to slightly lower rates than the previous year,” Ville Haapasaari, Managing Director of Port of Helsinki Ltd, describes the past year.
“Despite the uncertain operating environment, our traffic volume grew more than the market at large.”
The Port of Helsinki Group’s total cargo traffic was 15.2 million tonnes (+ 5.6% compared to 2021), of which 7.7 million tonnes (+ 0.9%) were export and 7.3 million tonnes (+ 11.7%) were import.
Most of the goods transported via the Port of Helsinki are unitized cargo for Finland’s foreign trade*, i.e. cargo transported on lorries, trailers and containers. In 2022, the amount of unitized cargo was 12.6 million tonnes (+ 3.8%) in total. Of this, a total of 6.7 million tonnes were exports and 5.9 million tonnes imports.
700,000 lorries and trailers transported 8.8 million tonnes (+ 5.1%) of goods. A total of 492,000 TEUs** (+ 5.4%) of containers were transported; the amount of container cargo in tonnes was 3.8 million.
| Cargo traffic | 2021 | 2022 | Change in % 22/21 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unitized goods, tonnes | 12 141 000 | 12 605 000 | + 3.8% |
| Import, tonnes | 5 522 000 | 5 906 000 | + 6.9% |
| Export, tonnes | 6 619 000 | 6 699 000 | + 1.2% |
| Bulk cargo, tonnes | 1 376 000 | 1 558 000 | + 13.2% |
| Other cargo (Break Bulk), tonnes | 719 000 | 879 000 | + 22.3% |
| Foreign cargo, tonnes | 14 243 000 | 15 090 000 | + 5.9% |
| Coastal traffic, tonnes | 130 000 | 91 000 | – 29.8% |
| TOTAL CARGO TRAFFIC, tonnes | 14 373 000 | 15 181 000 | + 5.6% |
| Containers, TEU | 467 000 | 492 000 | + 5.4% |
| Containers, tonnes | 3 768 000 | 3 806 000 | + 1.0% |
| Trucks and semitrailers, units | 664 000 | 702 000 | + 5.7% |
| Trucks and semitrailers, tonnes | 8 377 000 | 8 806 000 | + 5.1% |
Ship travel doubled
“The number of passengers doubled compared to the previous pandemic year 2021, and it looks like we will continue to bounce back during this year, as well,” Haapasaari says.
“The pandemic was generally contained from March onwards and society started to open up on a larger scale once more. Ship travel livened up again as a result. Nevertheless, Asian tourists are still mainly absent from ships.”
In 2022, the total number of passengers at the Port of Helsinki was 8.1 million.
A total of nearly 8 million passengers used liner traffic***, which was 112.7% more than the previous year. There were 6.3 million passengers on the Helsinki–Tallinn route, 1.4 million on the Stockholm route and 152,000 passengers on the Helsinki–Travemünde route.
| Liner traffic | 2021 | 2022 | Change in % 22/21 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stockholm | 399 000 | 1 405 000 | +252.4% |
| Tallinn | 3 150 000 | 6 322 000 | 100.7% |
| Travemünde | 102 000 | 152 000 | +49.4% |
| Mariehamn | 72 000 | 43 000 | -40.2% |
| Others | 16 000 | 30 000 | +89.5% |
| TOTAL | 3 738 000 | 7 951 000 | 112.7% |
The international cruise traffic season was quiet. A total of 162,000 passengers aboard 164 vessel calls explored Helsinki and the Helsinki region.
Many more vessel calls had been booked in advance. However, some of the calls were cancelled when cruises to St. Petersburg were called off following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Traffic in 2023
Due to the general weakening of economic outlooks, high inflation, the energy crisis and the reduction of consumer purchasing power, cargo transport is expected to slow down slightly in Helsinki ports in 2023.
No major uptick is expected in international cruise traffic. Reaching passenger volumes preceding the COVID-19 pandemic in liner traffic is expected to take 2–3 years, even though the current trend is positive.
* unitised cargo = goods transported in large units, such as containers, lorries and trailers.
** TEU = twenty-foot equivalent unit.
*** liner traffic = regular ship traffic that operates according to a schedule, e.g. RoPax ferries operating between Tallinn and Helsinki.
Inquiries:
Port of Helsinki Statistics January–December 2022
mediadesk(at)portofhelsinki.fi, media telephone during office hours: +358 40 506 5280