Vuosaari Harbour

Vuosaari Harbour
View of the entrance of the port from a nearby hill
Click on the map for a fullscreen view
Native name
Location
CountryFinland
LocationHelsinki
Coordinates60°13′N 25°11′E / 60.217°N 25.183°E / 60.217; 25.183
UN/LOCODEFI VSS
Details
Opened24 November 2008 (2008-11-24)
Operated byPort of Helsinki
Owned byPort of Helsinki
Land area240 hectares (0.93 sq mi)
Statistics
Vessel arrivals1,912 (2024)
Annual container volume443,000 (2024)
Value of cargoc. €48 billion
Passenger traffic371,000 (2024)
Website
www.portofhelsinki.fi/en/cargo-traffic-and-ships/vuosaari-harbour

Vuosaari Harbour (Vuosaaren satama in Finnish; Nordsjö hamn in Swedish) is a seaport facility in Helsinki, Finland, opened in 2008. A part of the Port of Helsinki system, it is Finland's leading cargo port by value of goods, and approximately half of Finland's cargo tonnage passes through the port. Operations at the port focus on container, roll-on-roll-off, and break bulk cargo, but a small amount of passenger traffic also takes place.

The port, which is in the suburb of Vuosaari in East Helsinki, was built between 2003 and 2008 in order to move most cargo traffic away from the ports of Helsinki's city center, which were at capacity, impractical to expand, and difficult to travel to. The port sits at the eastern end of Ring III (and thus has easy road access to the entire Greater Helsinki region), about 18 km east of the city center. The port also has a dedicated rail line that connects to the Finnish Main Line at Kerava, freeing the busiest parts of the line closest to Helsinki entirely for passenger traffic.

The centralization of cargo traffic to the outskirts of the city enabled the closing and redevelopment of Sörnäinen Harbour, the West Harbour container terminal and the Laajasalo oil harbour into the new mainly-residential areas of Kalasatama, Jätkäsaari and Kruunuvuorenranta. The closing of city center cargo ports also enabled the closing of a railway running along the city's waterfront and a large classification yard in Pasila, which have also been redeveloped. Passenger services and some ro-ro cargo traffic remain in the city center, at the Katajanokka Terminal, Olympia Terminal and the West Harbour.

Vuosaari harbour was built on the site of the former Vuosaari shipyard.