A busy December led to a jump in fourth quarter passenger and cargo shipments for ferry owner Tallink.

Passenger numbers grew by 7.8% year-on-year in December, while the amount of cargo carried increased by 5.9%, the shipowner told investors today.

This contributed to a near 5% rise in passengers in the fourth quarter, a period in which cargo volume improved by almost one tenth.

Data released today showed that the largest increases were seen on the Finland to Sweden route.

Shares in the shipowner inched up marginally to EUR 0.916 ($0.95) each at the time of writing today.