MOBY SPL said it had to cancel all ferry departures until 2 October, 2021, due to the extension of preventive measures for the spread of coronavirus infection in EU countries, in Russian Federation and the temporary restrictions of entry to the territory of these countries for tourism purposes.
October 2 was the last planned trip for this year.
Moby St. Peter’s Line may launch a regular Saint-Petersburg – Kaliningrad line in 2021 if coronavirus related restrictions on travelling abroad are extended, Sergey Kotenev, CEO of the company, said at the webinar “All Ferries of Russia. The Baltic Sea” organized by PortNews.
If it happens, it will be a regular cruise for six days with a technical call in Stockholm for taking aboard new Scania and Volvo trucks to be distributed in Russia.
If coronavirus constraints are lifted in 2021 instead, the company will operate its regular lines under a standard schedule on Saint-Petersburg – Tallinn – Stockholm – Saint-Petersburg route and short tours to Helsinki.
Sergey Kotenev also said the departure is planned from the berths of the Marine Façade in Saint-Petersburg.
The company also sees a vast potential of transportation to Germany via Kaliningrad as a transit port.
Russian media suggest that MOBY DADA could go back to the Baltic. She used to be one of the two vessels operated by St Peterline (as PRINCESS MARIA) before the acquisition by the Moby Group.
She was moved to the Mediterranean after the number of Russian passengers dropped. This trend is now changing again, and could justify the return of a second ship on the Moby SPL cruise-ferry journeys out of St Petersburg.