A clear direction towards sustainable growth

After the difficult times of the pandemic, 2022 brought an all-time cargo record for the Port of Helsinki, and the recovery of passenger traffic got off to a good start. We also secured the City Board’s positive advance position on the Port’s development programme, and planning for the centralisation of ship traffic continued at full speed. At the end of the year, we renewed our strategy, which, together with our development programme, gives us clear guidelines for profitable and sustainable growth.

After years of losses caused by the pandemic, the upturn in traffic brought the Port of Helsinki’s turnover close to its pre-pandemic level. Our result was just short of positive, as we, like everyone else, are affected by the drastic increase in costs. The economic outlook for 2023 is positive.

In terms of unitised cargo, we grew faster than the market at large. We were on a steady growth trajectory until early autumn, after which the momentum slowed down slightly. A total of 15.2 million tonnes of goods were transported via the Port of Helsinki group. This surpassed the previous record from 2018 by a clear margin.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began in February, also significantly changed the situation in the Baltic Sea. The Port of Helsinki was perhaps less affected by this than many other Finnish ports, as Russian traffic has not played a major role for us. However, it did have an indirect impact on our operations. The weakening economy, the energy crisis and high inflation are increasing costs.

In terms of passenger traffic, we had a good year of recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the beginning of which was still weighed down by the Omicron variant. We were very pleased with the summer season, and we were also delighted that passenger and customer satisfaction remained at a good level as passenger numbers increased.

Helsinki’s attractiveness is expected to be further enhanced by Finnlines’ new ships and Tallink’s Finnish-built ship, MyStar, which started operating in December.

The City Board’s positive advance position on the development programme was announced in January 2022. This, together with our renewed strategy developed together with the entire staff of the Port of Helsinki, provides clear prerequisites for Helsinki’s port operations and allows the positive economic impact of our operations to be increased.

We continued to plan the development programme at full speed, focusing particularly on the traffic solution for the West Harbour and the harbour tunnel. The Environmental Impact Assessment for the increase in the capacity of the West Harbour was also started. The joint preparation with the City of Helsinki is making good progress. Our aim is to start construction in 2025 and to have the development programme in place by the beginning of the 2030s.

As part of the renewed strategy to ensure sustainable growth, we also set a tighter timetable for our carbon neutrality goals. We also decisively pushed ahead with measures and investments to contribute to our climate goals: we expanded our onshore power supply to the West Harbour and increased the energy efficiency of our passenger terminals.

A particular focus during the year was on continuity management; how the Port of Helsinki, as a critical operator, together with other operators, can maintain its resilience in the future.

Now is the time to thank the Port’s own staff and our partners for keeping our operations and traffic running smoothly, even in these exceptional times. These lessons offer a good basis on which we can move forward – together.

Ville Haapasaari
CEO of the Port of Helsinki