In January 2021 AS Tallink Grupp transported
- -80.4% passengers (121,116)
- -8.4% cargo units (27,283)
- -48.7% passenger vehicles (37,453)
“Having started the year with over 7,200 dedicated employees in the group this year, we are faced with the reality of this number of good employees, dedicated and passionate tourism sector people in our company falling below the 5,000 mark by the end of this year.”
Tallink Grupp’s CEO Paavo Nõgene
Q3 is normally the high season for Tallink Grupp. This year it has been heavily affected by the pandemic and its travel restrictions.
- -7% Trips
- -55.8% Passengers
- -1.9% Cargo units
- -50.0% Consolidated revenue
EBITDA was EUR 5.7 million (EUR 83.2 million in Q3 2019)
Net loss was EUR 23.9 million (EUR 54.6 million in Q3 2019).
Q3 financial result was impacted by the following factors:
- Significant decrease in operating expenses
- Negative impact from one-off costs related to redundancies process in the amount of EUR 3.1 million
- Positive impact from support measures, including the temporary salary compensation measure in Sweden and exemption from ships’ fairway dues in Estonia.
Outlook: “Due to the ongoing Covid-19 situation the earnings outlook has become uncertain and continues to be largely subject to external factors such as the states’ decisions regarding the timing of lifting of the travel restrictions, allowing passenger traffic as well as the duration of the recovery period.”
Tallink: Freight Status Quo, Passengers Dropped Sharply
September
- -1% Cargo Units 32,672 units (32,843 in September 2019)
- -66% Passengers 243,215 passengers (718,354)
- -25% Cars 62,138 vehicles (83,089)
Q3
- -2% Cargo Units 91,578 (93,329)
- -56% Passengers 1,314,301 (2,974,790)
- -22% Cars 275,735 (353,725)
Paavo Nõgene, CEO of Tallink Grupp said that Tallinks business model needs cargo AND passengers. “Putting travel restrictions in place for passengers strongly affects the operators’ income base. This is why it is important that support mechanisms are put in place by the Finnish government, who has introduced the new restrictions, for all passenger ferry operators to ensure that cargo transportation can continue smoothly and without incurring losses.”
Tallink Grupp has appointed Joonas Joost as the group’s Finance Director with effect from Monday, 7 September 2020.
1/9: ISABELLE laid up
6/9: VICTORIA I will operate Tallinn-Stockholm route and Riga-Stockholm route.
13/9: SILJA SERENADE will be suspended from traffic after it arrives in Helsinki from Riga. The vessel’s return to traffic will depend on the future developments of the pandemic situation, changes in travel restrictions between the countries and any decisions regarding government support for maritime transport services.
Lay-offs Finnish crew expected.
16/9: BALTIC QUEEN to replace SILJA SERENADE on Helsinki-Riga
Early October:
- ROMANTIKA laid up until 31 March 2021 or until further notice.
- SILJA SYMPHONY suspended from regular traffic.
Tallink informed the company’s staff that it will this week notify the Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund and the Estonian Independent Maritime Workers Union of commencing further collective redundancies processes.
In addition, the company has initiated a further collective redundancies process in Latvia.
Within the company’s Finnish subsidiary, extensive lay-offs of both onshore and onboard personnel are already in place, which will continue for now either full time or part time. Nearly all 1,200 Tallink Silja OY employees are affected by the lay-offs.
Altogether, the processes will impact up to 2,500 Tallink Grupp employees
Paavo Nõgene, CEO of Tallink Grupp, asked for support of the State. “Germany is a good example of the state offering vital support to businesses, with salary compensation schemes being extended in the country at least until the end of 2021.”
Tallink Grupp suspends the Turku-Tallinn route, which was temporarily launched in early July and which it originally planned to continue to operate throughout the coming autumn-winter season on weekends.
The route had proved extremely popular among the company’s customers during the summer period after travel restrictions were lifted between the two neighbouring countries.
„As a direct result of significant information noise and mixed messages circulating in the Finnish media, the ticket sales have significantly reduced as passengers are confused about the travel advice and nervous about a possibility of a quarantine. This has resulted in great numbers of customers cancelling their trips and requesting refunds instead,” Paavo Nõgene, CEO of Tallink Grupp commented.
“The tourism sector will be under significant pressure until at least until next summer. Decisive action by our governments is vital and requires swift action for the survival of our sector in this pandemic situation,” Nõgene said.
Tallink CEO: Finland Quarantine on Estonians Would Knock Out Tourist Sector
The coronavirus infection rate in Estonia increasing to a point where Finland would impose a quarantine requirement would be the worst possible scenario for Estonian tourism, CEO of Tallink Grupp Paavo Nõgene told ERR on Monday.
Sea Trials for Second Electric Norled Ferry
SOLAVÅGEN is the second in a series of four electric passenger/vehicle ferries, built at Remontowa Shipbuilding SA for Norled. The ferry began sea trials on August, 1.
These battery-powered ferries will be sailing in the area of Norwegian fjords and will serve the connection between Festøya – Solavågen and Mannheller – Fodnes. At the end of June this year the first ferry was handed over to the shipowner, which entered the Festøya-Solavågen line in mid-July.
Photo Remontowa: Piotr Rudzki; Agnieszka Latarska, Maciej Bielesz / Portalmorski.Pl
Tallink Grupp’s New Shuttle Mystar Steel Sections Prepared in Poland Set Sail for Rauma Shipyard
Steel sections built at the former Gdanska Shipyard for Tallink Grupp’s new shuttle vessel MyStar, which will become the vessel’s food storage area in the future, set sail on August 1 on the barge KIKKA, towed by tugboat METEOR, towards the builder RMC´s Rauma shipyard in Finland.
Baltic SF VIII Ltd, a subsidiary of AS Tallink Grupp purchased ro-pax vessel SAILOR from Navirail OÜ.
The purchase of the ro-pax vessel will strengthen Tallink fleet’s cargo capacity, much needed after the pandemic. More operational flexibility between roro and ropax is needed, said Tallink CEO Paavo Nogene.
Ship has a capacity of 1,400 lane meter and 119 pax.
The transaction price is EUR 8.5 million.
The ship is going to sail under the Estonian flag. The vessel is scheduled to be handed over on 9 July 2020.