The West Harbour (, ) is a passenger and cargo harbour in the Jätkäsaari district of Helsinki, Finland, in the southwestern part of the Helsinki peninsula. The harbour area also includes a pier on the west side of Munkkisaari, used by cruiseliners. The harbour is operated by the Port of Helsinki.

The West Harbour is one of the two passenger harbours in the central part of the city of Helsinki: the South Harbour around the Market Square is also used for passenger traffic, primarily by services to Mariehamn and Stockholm.

The West Harbour has a single operational passenger terminal, West Terminal 2 (, ), which opened in 2017.Helsingin Sataman Länsiterminaali 2 avautuu maanantaina 27.2. , Port of Helsinki 24 February 2017. Accessed on 22 June 2017. West Terminal 2 is used by Tallink and Eckerö Line for fast ferry traffic to Tallinn. The former West Terminal 1 building, which was built in 1941 and mainly used by ships heading to Saint Petersburg, was demolished in 2025, with plans to redevelop the site into a new terminal building.Jompero-Lahokoski, Sanna: Upeat kuvat Länsisataman suunnitelmista: uusi terminaali ja kaksi kilometriä pitkän tunneli – hinta 600 miljoonaa euroa, Helsingin Uutiset 28 August 2023. Accessed on 29 August 2023. After the new terminal is completed, the West Harbour will have five places for ships to dock.Jompero-Lohikoski, Sanna: Tällainen on Länsisatamaan suunniteltu uusi terminaali – bilettäjien palvelut eri paikkaan kuin perheiden, perinteinen laivaanousujono historiaan, Helsingin Uutiset 9 March 2022. Accessed on 10 March 2022.

The harbour area also includes the area of Hernesaari located east of Jätkäsaari, with three piers for international cruise ships on its western edge.Risteilylaiturit, Port of Helsinki. Accessed on 2 April 2021. The LHD pier serving ships as long as 360 metres was taken into use in Hernesaari in April 2019.Länsisatama Itämeren sujuvinta matkailua , Port of Helsinki. Accessed on 2 April 2023.Hernesaaren risteilysatama valmiina vilkkaaseen kauteen , Port of Helsinki 23 April 2019. Accessed on 2 April 2021.

The passenger terminal is served by multiple Helsinki tram lines and the nearest metro station in Ruoholahti is a 1.3 km walk from the harbour.

Construction of the new residential area of Jätkäsaari continues , using land freed up after container traffic in the West Harbour was moved to Vuosaari Harbour in 2008. Cargo traffic in the West Harbour continues in the form of trucks driving off of roll-on/roll-off ships.

Immediately next to West Harbour, in the Munkkisaari quarter, there is the Helsinki shipyard in Hietalahti. However, it is not counted as part of the harbour area of Länsisatama.

is also the name of a subdivision of Helsinki, which encompasses a larger area than the harbour alone.

Ships serving the terminal CompanyShipRoute TallinkMS MegastarHelsinki – TallinnMS MyStarMS Victoria I Eckerö LineMS Finlandia

Usage The harbour is used by around 7 million passengers per year in regular ferry traffic and by about 400 thousand passengers of international cruise ships. The traffic also includes about 1.3 million vehicles per year. Especially heavy-duty cargo traffic in Jätkäsaari is so significant that there are plans to move it underground. The City Council of Helsinki has approved a plan to construct a harbour tunnel from Jätkäsaari to the Länsiväylä highway.Bäckgren, Noona: Helsingin kaupunginvaltuusto hyväksyi Jätkäsaaren satamatunnelin rakentamisen, Eteläsataman satamatoiminnot lakkautetaan, Helsingin Sanomat 2 March 2021. Accessed on 20 July 2021. In addition, the current pier structure will be expanded and a new field area will be constructed at the southern tip of the harbour area.Länsisataman kapasiteetin nostaminen | Ympäristövaikutusten arviointiohjelma, Port of Helsinki, October 2022. Accessed on 20 December 2022.Helsingin Satama Oy:n Länsisataman laajentaminen, Helsinki, Environmental bureau of Finland 15 December 2022. Accessed on 20 December 2022.

The West Harbour employs over 800 people.

History

In the past, the West Harbour was a significant cargo harbour, also known as the Jätkäsaari harbour.Pohjanpalo, Olli: Kiskot tiensä päässä | Helsingin rantoja kiertävät syrjäraiteet katoavat metri metriltä, Helsingin Sanomat 7 April 1990. Accessed on 2 April 2021. It was born in 1911 when the city council granted money for levelling the area.Bysa ja Sandis ja Uttern – sittemmin Jätkäsaari, Uutta Helsinkiä 11 September 2017. Accessed on 26 August 2021. In the next year, Hietasaari and Jätkäsaari were connected to the mainland by a causeway. The zoning plan was approved and construction started in 1913.Erävuori, Jukka: Helsingin sataman ja satamahallinnon historia, pp. 77–79. City of Helsinki, 1981. The total sum granted for the construction was over two million Finnish markka. The plan was based on city engineer Gabriel Idström's statement that the capacity of the South Harbour would not be enough in the future to support marine traffic and trade.

The islands of Hietasaari and Saukko were annexed to the Jätkäsaari harbour area by levelling them and filling the area of sea between them. The seabed was dredged for the use of large ocean ships. In 1916 the area was connected to the Finnish main track line with the Helsinki harbour rail going through Kamppi. The harbour expanded fast during the boom in the 1920s and the name Jätkäsaari was established for the whole harbour area in 1928. The land fillings and the construction of the West Harbour were a solution to the capacity problem, as the Hietalahti harbour next to it built in the 19th century was running out of space.

In the 1930s the harbour area was divided into two parts: the Hietalahti harbour reserved for ocean liners and the Saukko harbour reserved for traffic of coal cargo, opened in 1925. Before World War II the area was developing into the largest harbour in Helsinki. The war interrupted this development, and the record numbers in the 1930s could only be reached again in 1955. In the 1950s the West Harbour was mainly converted into a goods traffic harbour, as traffic of coal cargo was moved to Hanasaari. In terms of traffic, the harbour was the largest in Helsinki since the 1960s, and its expansion continued in the 1970s. At the same time, the Sörnäinen Harbour on the other side of the central area of the city was being expanded, with the sea being filled and islands being connected around it.

In November 2008 the functionality of the container harbour was moved to the new Vuosaari Harbour, and the harbour track was dismantled. This cleared space in Jätkäsaari for thousands of new apartments.Toivio, Tuulo: Länsisataman ruuhkia ratkotaan, Metro 30 August 2013, 15th year, issue #158, p. 4. Accessed on 30 August 2013.

References

External links

Port of Helsinki: West Terminal