The Port of Turku (, ) is a

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

located in the south-west of

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, where the mainland meets the beginning of the Turku archipelago. Sited within Finland's sixth largest city, the port principally handles traffic between

Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

and the Swedish capital of

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

and the enclaved

Åland Åland ( , ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland. Receiving its autonomy by a 1920 decision of the League of Nations, it is the smallest region of Finland by both area () and population (30,54 ...

Harbour

The port spans a wide area on the southern coastline of the city of

, from the mouth of the River Aura to the district of

Pansio Pansio is a district and a suburb of the city of Turku, Finland. It is located in the western part of the city. It has a population of 2,809 (), and an annual population growth of -3.83%. 19.25% of the district's population are under 15 years ...

. The area around the railway station is served by the four (twice-daily)

Silja line Silja Line is a Finnish shipping company and cruiseferry brand owned and operated by the Estonian shipping company AS Tallink Grupp, for car, cargo and passenger traffic between Finland and Sweden. The former company Silja Oy—today Tallink S ...

and

Viking Line Viking Line Abp is a Finland, Finnish shipping company that operates a fleet of ferry, ferries and cruiseferry, cruiseferries between Finland, the Åland, Åland Islands, Sweden and Estonia. Viking Line shares are quoted on the Helsinki Stock Ex ...

passenger ferry services to Stockholm via

Mariehamn Mariehamn ( , ; ; ) is the capital of Åland, an autonomous territory under Finnish sovereignty. Mariehamn is the seat of the Government and Parliament of Åland, and 40% of the population of Åland live in the city. It is mostly surrounded b ...

, the capital of Åland.

Ships serving the terminal

Importance

Because of the port's location at the southwestern corner of Finland the harbour provides the most efficient route to serve the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

. Turku Harbour is one of the most important shipment points in the country, handling over four million

tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton in the United States to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the s ...

s of

cargo In transportation, cargo refers to goods transported by land, water or air, while freight refers to its conveyance. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in cas ...

and a corresponding four million passengers per year. As a comparison to

Helsinki-Vantaa Airport Helsinki-Vantaa Airport (, ) , or simply Helsinki Airport, is the main international airport serving Helsinki, the capital of Finland, as well as its surrounding metropolitan area, and the Uusimaa region in Finland. The airport is located in t ...

; Turku handles one third as many passengers per year, but thirty times as much freight annually. Daily passenger

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

traffic is operated from Turku to

and

. Weekly ferry destinations include

Travemünde Travemünde () is a borough of Lübeck, Germany, located at the mouth of the river Trave in Bay of Lübeck, Lübeck Bay. It began life as a fortress built by Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, in the 12th century to guard the mouth of the Trave, an ...

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-o ...

and

Paldiski Paldiski is a seaside Populated places in Estonia, town in northwestern Estonia, located on the Pakri Peninsula and adjacent Pakri Islands, Pakri islands in the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea. It is the administrative centre of the Lääne- ...

. There are also less frequent connections to popular holiday destinations such as

St Malo Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany. The walled city on the English Channel coast had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. In 1944, the All ...

and several cities in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. The most important operators of ferry services are

Silja Line Silja Line is a Finnish shipping company and cruiseferry brand owned and operated by the Estonian shipping company AS Tallink Grupp, for car, cargo and passenger traffic between Finland and Sweden. The former company Silja Oy—today Tallink S ...

and

District

Port of Turku ( Finnish ''Turun satama''; Swedish ''Åbo hamn'') is also the name of a district of Turku, with boundaries roughly corresponding with those of the port's area. , the district had a registered residential population of forty-four people. The port is mentioned in the

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

Muhammad al-Idrisi Abu Abdullah Muhammad al-Idrisi al-Qurtubi al-Hasani as-Sabti, or simply al-Idrisi (; ; 1100–1165), was an Arab Muslim geographer and cartographer who served in the court of King Roger II at Palermo, Sicily. Muhammad al-Idrisi was born in C ...

's 1154 book '' Kitab Rudjdjar'', reflecting Turku's status as a capital city and major

trading post.

Railway

Turun sataman rautatieasema toukokuussa 2024

Turku Harbour railway station is located adjacent to the main passenger-ferry berths used by the ferries to Stockholm in Sweden and has two full-length tracks arranged with a central platform between them. Passengers walk directly off the platform and onto the car-park and bus-station area in front of the ferry terminals. Most traffic to the station is by people wishing to board a ship at the port and the services are timed to overlap with the ferries berthing times. The station has direct boat-train services to

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

and towards

Pieksämäki Pieksämäki () is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the Southern Savonia region, about north of Mikkeli, east of Jyväskylä and south of Kuopio. The town has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water ...

(terminating or starting in

Tampere Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . It is the most populous mu ...

). All services to and from Turku Harbour call at

Turku Central railway station Turku Central Station (, ) is a railway station in the VII District of Turku, Finland. It has VR services to Helsinki as well as towards Tampere via Toijala. The station serves approximately a million passengers annually. The railway station w ...

. The three kilometre journey between the two stations takes around seven minutes, involving the slow-speed crossing of several main roads with

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line or the road etc. crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, o ...

s, passing the city's residential and industrial areas. The phrase Turku Harbour is the semi-official English name of the

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

, being used in English-language timetables and "next stop" announcements on board VR trains. Note that although the station has direct through

sleeping car The sleeping car or sleeper (often ) is a railway passenger car (rail), passenger car that can accommodate all passengers in beds of one kind or another, for the purpose of sleeping. George Pullman was the main American innovator and owner of sl ...

services to

Rovaniemi Rovaniemi ( , ; ; ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Lapland (Finland), Lapland. It is located near the Arctic Circle in the northern interior of the country. The population of Rovaniemi is approximately , while the Rovaniemi su ...

and

Kolari Kolari is a municipality of Finland at the Swedish border, which follows the Torne River, the longest free-flowing river in Europe. It is located in the region of Lapland. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of w ...

in the north of Finland, passengers using the car-carrying trains are required to drive into the centre of the town to load their vehicles at

where appropriate ramps are installed.

Cargo

Turku was the only port in Finland with a

train ferry A train ferry is a ship (ferry) designed to carry Railroad car, railway vehicles, as well as their cargoes and passengers. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with Track (rail transport), railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the f ...

service. Between June 1989 and December 2011

SeaWind Line SeaWind Line was a subsidiary of the Finnish passenger shipping company Silja Line, later owned by the Estonian company Tallink. In 2010, the Sea Wind brand ceased to exist and the remaining ship, MS ''Sea Wind'', was transferred to Tallink ...

provided a limited

operation for cargo. Because of the gauge difference between Finland ( 1,524 mm) and the rest of Europe ( 1,435 mm), through service was using special

variable gauge Variable gauge systems allow railway vehicles to travel between two railways with different track gauges. Vehicles are equipped with variable gauge axles (VGA). The gauge is altered by driving the train through a gauge changer installed at the b ...

rolling stock. The tracks in Stockholm and on the ferry itself were standard gauge, with a short section of standard gauge in the harbour area to enable hauling the wagons off the ferry before the gauge of the axles was altered using

bogie exchange A bogie ( ) (or truck in North American English) comprises two or more wheelsets (two wheels on an axle), in a frame, attached under a vehicle by a pivot. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transport. A bogie may remain normally ...

References

External links

Port of Turku
website. *VR (Finnish National Railways) information

Railway Station]. {{coord, 60.435278, N, 22.219784, E, display=title Railway stations in Southwest Finland

Districts of Turku Buildings and structures in Turku