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January – December 2022 Finnlines reported (compared to 2021)
- Revenue amounted to EUR 736.1 million, an increase of 27%
- Result was EUR 133.3 million (EUR 74.7 million)
- EBITDA amounted to EUR 221.2 million (EUR 160.3 million)
- 750,000 freight units
- 138,000 cars
- 648,000 passengers (including drivers)
Finnlines describes freight volumes as “fairly good”. This is despite the Ukraine war, inflation, higher interest rates and soaring energy costs.
The Superstar ro-paxes for the Naantali – Långnäs – Kapellskär route will be delivered this year, FINNSIRIUS in Q3 and FINNCANOPUS in Q4.
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To meet the increased capacity and frequency demand from customers, Finnlines is strengthening its Ireland–Belgium freight service by adding a second ro-ro vessel.
FINNPULP will join FINNWAVE on the route in week 8, departing from Zeebrugge on 23 February 2023.
Finnlines launched the new service between Rosslare and Zeebrugge in July 2022. The service has been well received by Irish transport operators. Via transhipment in Zeebrugge, the Irish connection is also available to the Finnish, German, Estonian and Spanish industries as well as the whole Grimaldi Group network.
FINNPULP: 3,259 lane metres |225 trailers | 12 drivers
FINNWAVE: 4,192 lane metres |300 trailers | 12 drivers
Presently, to board the Finnlines which operates from Kapellskär, north of Stockholm, via Långnäs on the Åland Islands to Naantali, close to Turku in Finland, passengers must have a vehicle (bicycles are allowed as well).
However, when two larger Superstar class ships enter the route as from September 2023, foot passengers can also embark the ship.
Brittany Ferries has published figures outlining passenger and freight performance for its financial year (November to October).
FREIGHT
Freight struggled to recover 2019 levels: -27% on UK-France routes, and -22% on UK-Spain. Brexit border controls have played a role in this trend.
Freight France-Ireland and Ireland-Spain are welcome exceptions to the downward trend.
Brexit opportunities: new services have been launched connecting France directly with Ireland, exploiting what operators call The Brexit by-pass. Volumes have risen more than six-fold to 9,587 units.
Ireland-Spain has also posted positive results. Freight volumes rose 172% to 13,644 units, with an accelerating trend towards unaccompanied or driverless loads. These now comprise 45% of the total carried.
PASSENGER
Volumes on Channel routes are a concern. The post-Brexit imposition of passports for French passengers visiting the UK has dramatically hit this side of the BF business. “What is needed now is a concerted push from tourist bodies in France and the UK to boost tourism volumes,” says CEO Christophe Mathieu.
Long routes have seen a significant increase in passenger numbers.
This has helped Brittany Ferries record a positive financial performance for the year.
“While our long routes have surged forwards, the Channel is a real concern for Brittany Ferries and our partners,” said Brittany Ferries CEO Christophe Mathieu.
Brittany Ferries says it is optimistic for the year ahead. Forward reservations are positive, and there are no barriers to passengers crossing borders, as there were in France at the beginning of 2022.
Fleet renewal continues apace
- Launched in March 2022, Salamanca is the first of four Brittany Ferries vessels to be powered by LNG as part of investment in fleet renewal. She will operate throughout the winter and into next summer on the Cherbourg and Bilbao to Rosslare routes. The aim is to grow by 50,000 the number of holiday makers sailing between Ireland and Spain.
- A second LNG-powered vessel called SANTOÑA will join the fleet in March next year. She too will be based in Portsmouth.
- SANTOÑA will be followed by two LNG-electric hybrid vessels in 2024/2025, replacing two of the longest serving ships in the fleet BRETAGNE (1989) and NORMANDIE (1992). The hybrids will call Portsmouth home, and will serve St Malo in Brittany and Caen in Normandie.
Color Line has decided to end the operation of ropax COLOR VIKING on the Sandefjord-Strømstad route and roro COLOR CARRIER on the Oslo-Kiel route.
Strong price growth has led to a significant increase in the costs of fuel, shore power and commodity costs, while at the same time important framework conditions have been weakened. This particularly applies to the subsidy scheme for Norwegian seafarers, and in the proposal for the national budget for 2023, a further weakening of the scheme is proposed. In addition, the government proposes to further reduce the scope of the tax-free scheme, this time by halving the tax-free quota on tobacco for residents of Norway.
Both COLOR VIKING and COLOR CARRIER will be put up for sale in the global market.
Color Line says it will seek to minimize the number of redundancies through redeployment to other ships in the fleet and by offering voluntary schemes.
Key figures
- +31% Revenue EUR 558.4 million
- +42% Result EUR 105.2 million
- EBITDA, amounted to EUR 169.2 (121.2 in 2021) million.
- Financial performance has improved although consumer and business confidence has been hit by the war in Ukraine, accelerating inflation and soaring energy costs.
- Considering the economic instability, freight volumes have been fairly good during the first three quarters of 2022.
Finnlines introduced three new Eco-class hybrid roro vessels, which operate on the route Bilbao–Zeebrugge/Antwerp–Travemünde–Helsinki/Kotka.
In July, Finnlines launched a new freight route between Rosslare, Ireland, and Zeebrugge, Belgium, providing an important link between Ireland and rest of Europe. This line was highly welcomed by the market and, therefore, a smaller ro-ro vessel was quickly replaced by a larger vessel with nearly 4,200 lane metres for cargo.
The EUR 500 million investment programme includes two Superstar ro-pax vessels in addition to the three hybrid ro-ro vessels already in service. Both vessels will have capacity to carry 1,100 passengers, which is about twice the capacity of the existing ro-pax vessels on the route. The cargo capacity will increase from just over 4,000 lane metres in the current vessels to 5,200 lane metres. The new vessels will start operating on the Naantali–Långnäs–Kapellskär route in autumn 2023.
FINNSIRIUS and FINNCANOPUS will significantly enhance the passenger experience
- Zeebrugge’s berth 106 will be dedicated to the Finnlines Rosslare service (this is the roro berth behind the P&O Ferries building)
- As from week 45 Finnlines will have their own berth and marshalling area in Zeebrugge.
- Roro FINNSUN will be replaced by sistership FINNWAVE. The latter has been fitted with an additional pilot door to avoid delays previously experienced at Wandelaar Pilot Station, Zeebrugge. The new door allows the SWATH-pilot vessels to go alongside (instead of having to transfer the pilot from the SWATH by tender).
- New schedule as from week 45; depart 03:00 Monday instead of 16:00 from Rosslare, a sailing underutilised by the market. This is to facilitate departure at 23:59 every Tuesday from Zeebrugge with arrival 06:00 Thursday in Rosslare. All European production on Monday and Tuesday can therefore be delivered anywhere in Ireland on Thursday. Thursday & Saturday sailings are consistently heavily booked and advance planning is advised.
- +32% revenue totalling EUR 356.9 million
- +0.5% cargo units totalling 393,000
- -19% cars totalling 73,000
- +9% tons of freight not possible to measure in units, totalling 742,000
- +25% passengers (incl. commercial) totalling 286,000
- Due to EU sanctions Finnlines stopped calling Russian ports in early March, which naturally has resulted in loss of revenue. However, the increased cargo volumes on other lines have compensated for this loss and the passenger business has also recovered and reached pre-pandemic figures.
- The three Finneco series hybrid ro-ro vessels were all delivered during the late spring and early summer of 2022 at the shipyard in China. The vessels have entered Finnlines’ North Sea and Bay of Biscay services.
- The roro vessel FINNMERCHANT in Poland-Finland route was chartered out to Dutch MoD in early July but she was replaced by FINNMILL vessel to support the increased volumes.
