Port of Tallinn Q1 2023 profits down even as revenues rise
The part state-owned Port of Tallinn (Tallinna Sadam) has reported a 21 percent fall in profit for the first quarter of 2023 (Q1 2023), to €5.7 million. Over the same period, the company reported a €28.4 revenue – a rise of 6 percent.
A record number of vessels on the Tallinn-Helsinki route called in at the Port of Tallinn in Q1 2023, at 1,124 visits, continuing strong growth in this area in the period following the Covid pandemic.
However, freight saw a decline due mainly to sanctions put in place on goods of Russian and Belarusian origin (the latter country is landlocked but can use overland transit to Russian and other ports).
The economic impact in the fall in liquid (eg. oil) and bulk cargos was less widespread than it might have been, since it concerned mostly those commodities with lower tariff rates.
The volume of goods passing through the Port of Tallinn fell by 31 percent, while the freight fee take fell by 9 percent, in Q1 2023.
The Port of Tallinn's adjusted Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA) rose by 0.6 percent, to €13.6 million, in Q1 2023, while the EBITDA margin fell from 50.4 percent to 48 percent over the same period, the company reports.
Adjusted EBITDA rose in respect of passenger ports and passenger ferries and other segments, while it fell in the cargo ports segment.
The Port of Tallinn's authority is not confined to the capital itself (where in fact the Kopli docks have been sold off to the private sector) but also neighboring Muuga, Paldiski to the West, and the two largest islands, Saaremaa and Hiiumaa, where TS Laevad, operating passenger ferries, is a subsidiary.
In the latter case, passenger sales revenues rose by 13 percent, the result of both a rise in fees and in demand.
Wage-price inflation also exerted an upward pressure on Port of Tallinn's Q1 costs, the company says.
In the first three months of the year, the group invested €1.5 million, a fall of €3.2 million on the same period in 2022.
Investments mostly concerned the final touches to the D-Terminal at the Old City Harbor, and cargo capacities at Muuga.
The state is the majority shareholder (at 67 percent) of the Port of Tallinn, which was floated in an IPO in 2018.
--
Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!
Editor: Andrew Whyte, Barbara Oja
