Tuesday, April 29, 2025 - 08:55 by ce-press
Tallinn is just one part of a wider Estonian government vision for both the maritime and tourism industries. The appearance of a large delegation, led by vice-minister for maritime and water affairs, Kaupo Laanerand, to Seatrade Cruise Global demonstrated the country’s commitment to these sectors. Furthermore, Estonia is just about to introduce the €25 million support measure for greening of ships.
“Cruise business is crucial for us. It is great to come where companies have done so much already. Cruise tourists are great ambassadors, even though they are a small part of our tourist numbers. From the government side we are very interested to see big businesses growing more, and smaller players too. We see great potential, also in the maritime sector when it comes to retrofitting the existing cruise fleet to green technologies or to make them more environmentally friendly,” he says.
Onshore power supply (OPS) has been a vital component of its quest to develop different green corridors: starting with Tallinn to Helsinki, a route which carries eight million passengers a year. “Our Port of Tallinn project was the biggest OPS project in Europe when we started. Local company Shorelink is definitely in the top three innovative suppliers of OPS worldwide. We also have large scale automooring systems in the port supporting OPS systems [presently on ropax but will be with cruiseships at the new terminal]. There is also a smart port solution in use for ferries, whereby people with vehicles are directed automatically,” explains Laanerand.
However OPS is not without its difficulties as he pointed out: “OPS itself and the solutions to connect the vessel is easier to make happen. Our biggest challenge is to get the grid strong enough. The connection for cruise needs huge investment. We are looking to the government and the EU for investment. My biggest concern is that, without government support, some ports won’t have the financial capability to do this.”
On the tourism side, Laanerand talks about how Tallinn, in cooperation with Stockholm and Helsinki, is working on how the region can bring back the major cruiselines, with higher passenger numbers, that it had prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “The cruiselines are positive but it takes time. We are not protesting against the vessels. We are happy to have them. Locals like to see the beautiful white ships and residential areas are not so close to the ports. Estonia is a excellent location to visit.”
On the outfitting side, he says: “We have the full value chain in Estonia to make all interiors required for retrofitting, and in innovative way. We have all the producers and we are already supporting big players such as Meyer Turku.” He cites an example of the new approach, whereby cabins are made from plastic from the sea and there are new innovative light materials that can be used: “We can create a sustainable cabin, but with luxury looks. Our producers have found a way to make each cabin 200kg lighter and, if there are 1,000 cabins to be built, the weight can be reduced by 200t. The lighter the ships, the less fuel, the less port dues, the less CO2 and it is more sustainable.”
