Sörnäinen Harbour ( Finnish: ''Sörnäisten satama'', Swedish: ''Sörnäs hamn'') was for nearly one and a half centuries a major harbour and freight terminal in the

Port of Helsinki The Port of Helsinki (, ) is one of the busiest passenger ports in Europe and the main port for foreign trade in Finland. For passenger traffic, the port operates regular liner connections to destinations such as Tallinn, Stockholm, Saint Peters ...

, located in the

Sörnäinen Sörnäinen (; ''Sörkkä'' or ''Sörkka'' in Helsinki slang) is a Subdivisions of Helsinki#Neighbourhoods, neighbourhood in the city of Helsinki, Finland. Sörnäinen is located a little more than one kilometre north from the coastal centre of ...

district on the eastern shore of the

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 ...

city centre area. It was opened in 1863 to serve mainly the country's timber export trade, in 1889 an oil import terminal was added, and more recently containerised cargo and some passenger traffic. The harbour was finally closed down after 145 years of operation in November 2008, when the new Vuosaari Harbour was opened in the eastern suburb, and the facilities moved there. The only remaining functions relate to the adjacent Hanasaari Power Plant, which is itself being gradually decommissioned. The port facilities were connected to the rail network at Pasila station via a branch line called Sörnäinen harbour rail, which originally ran through

Vallila Vallila () is a Subdivisions of Helsinki#Neighbourhoods, neighbourhood in Helsinki, the capital of Finland. Vallila is a central-northern neighbourhood, bordered by Pasila to the west and Alppiharju to the south. Like Kallio, Vallila is mostly re ...

, but which in 1965 was re-routed around the inner city area via

Kumpula Kumpula () is a verdant neighbourhood in Helsinki, bordered by Eastern Pasila to the west, Vallila to the south, Käpylä and Koskela to the north and Toukola and Arabianranta to the east. As of January 1, 2003, Kumpula had approximately 3,6 ...

. Since its closure, the harbour area has been redeveloped for residential, retail and leisure use, as part of the

Kalasatama Kalasatama (; ; literally translated "fish port") is a neighbourhood in the city of Helsinki, Finland. The area is officially part of the Sörnäinen district; and like Sörnäinen, Kalasatama is located a little more than one kilometre north fro ...

development. The harbour was also commonly referred to as '

Sompasaari Sompasaari (Swedish language, Swedish: ''Sumparn'') is an island on the Kruunuvuorenselkä water area in the Sörnäinen district in Helsinki, Finland. On the southern side of the Nihdinkanava channel built in the middle of Sompasaari is the islan ...

Harbour', after a small island which originally was located immediately to its south, but which the harbour development had subsumed under reclaimed land.

References

{{reflist Sörnäinen Ports and harbours of Finland Buildings and structures in Helsinki Transport infrastructure completed in 1863 1863 establishments in Finland