Silja Line

2018 a Year of Contrasts for Tallink

In 2018, Estonian shipping company Tallink Grupp transported the highest ever number of passengers and cargo but saw a decrease in its revenue and profit.

Illustration; Image Courtesy: Pixabay under CC 2.0 license

The total number of passengers increased to 9.8 million in 2018, which is nearly 900 passengers more than in the previous year.

A more significant increase was recorded in the number of cargo units transported by the group. The number of cargo units rose by 5.7% to 385,000.

As informed, Tallink Grupp’s passenger numbers increased on nearly all the group’s routes and the number of cargo units transported increased on all the routes, with record numbers of passengers and cargo being transported on the Estonia-Finland routes and Estonia-Sweden routes, and the largest ever number of passengers transported also on the Latvia-Sweden route in 2018.

Despite the records achieved, the group’s revenue and profit were impacted by higher fuel costs, lower charter revenue and a longer-than-planned docking of one of the group’s vessels in spring 2018.

The group’s unaudited consolidated revenue decreased by 1.8% in 2018 to EUR 949.7 million from EUR 967 million in 2017. In addition, Tallink’s net profit for the financial year was EUR 40 million, compared to EUR 46.5 million seen in 2017. However, the total revenue from the group’s route operations increased in 2018 by EUR 0.7 million and amounted to EUR 883.7 million.

„2018 was a year of some contrasts for Tallink Grupp. On the one hand we achieved a number of records in terms of passenger numbers, cargo units and numbers of trips completed by our vessels. I am particularly pleased that the Estonia-Finland routes, with significant competitive pressures and other challenges on the route, have seen passenger numbers increase and even produce all-time records,” Paavo Nõgene, Tallink Grupp’s CEO, commented.

„On the other hand, several factors negatively influenced our financial results, so our total outcome for the year was not record-breaking. One of the factors was the reduction of charter revenues by EUR 10.8 million compared to 2017, as we had only one vessel chartered out instead of three in the previous year,” he explained.

“However, it is clear that the biggest impact on our profits last year came from significantly increased fuel costs, which were EUR 16.6 million higher than in 2017. We are, of course, taking a number of steps to reduce the impact of the global price fluctuations on our business, but fuel costs will inevitably always form a significant part of our costs,” Nõgene added.

The group’s total investments in 2018 amounted to EUR 36.4 million with several of Tallink’s ships receiving both technical upgrades and as well as updates to passenger areas and cabins onboard.

AS Tallink Grupp provides passenger and cargo transportation services in the Northern region of the Baltic Sea. The company owns 14 vessels and operates under the brands of Tallink and Silja Line on seven different routes.

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