On September 11, Tallink’s VICTORIA I was connected to shore power in Tallinn Old City Harbour for the first ever shore power charging in Estonia.
Shore power can be used by the Tallink vessels operating the Estonian-Swedish as well as Estonian-Finnish routes.
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.
Tallink transported a total of 617,206 passengers in July. That is half of last year’s July, but more than double of June 2020.
The number of cargo units transported on all the company’s vessels in July 2020 decreased by 2.9% and amounted to 29,108 cargo units.
The greatest reductions in the number of cargo units transported have been on the Latvia-Sweden and Estonia-Sweden routes.
On the Estonia-Finland and Finland-Sweden routes cargo transportation, however, actually increased in July compared to July 2019, 2.4% and 7.1% respectively.
The total number of passenger vehicles transported in July this year also decreased: 118,167 vehicles (155,297 in July 2019).
Normal route operations, comparable at least to some extent to previous years, continued only on Tallinn-Helsinki, Muuga-Vuosaari, Paldiski-Kapellskär and Turku-Stockholm routes.
Tallinn-Stockholm and Helsinki-Stockholm routes were and currently still are suspended completely and the Riga-Stockholm route only operated four limited capacity special trips during the month.
At the same time, the company operated a number of new temporary routes and several additional special cruises during the month, which helped recover passenger numbers at least to some extent. New temporary routes such as Helsinki-Riga, Turku-Tallinn, Stockholm-Visby, a number of special cruises from Tallinn via Helsinki to Aland and one special cruise from Helsinki to Saaremaa, all proved popular with the customers and have enabled travellers around the Baltic sea to travel safely close to home this summer.
Tallink is giving travellers the unique opportunity to sail directly to Saaremaa from Helsinki this summer with one special return voyage to the island on the Helsinki-Saaremaa-Helsinki route on 27-29 July 2020.
Ship: VICTORIA I
The Government of the Republic of Estonia today approved the terms of a working capital loan to AS Tallink Grupp. The total amount of the loan limit is EUR 100 million and the loan can be issued in EUR 10-40 million tranches. The interest rate of the three-year maturity loan is 12-month Euribor +2%. The loan must be secured with the assets of the Company’s consolidation group and will be issued by SA KredEx.
The loan still needs to be approved by the Kredex Supervisory Board. This expected on Friday 15 May.
Tallink Grupp’s Q1 Shows A Deteriorated Overall Outcome – Freight Is Up
The first two months of the year had set the company on a positive trajectory for the year with passenger numbers up in both January and February, by 12.4% and 8% respectively. However, as a state of emergency was declared in Estonia, Latvia and Finland due to the global coronavirus pandemic in mid-March and the company’s home market governments closed borders to stop the spread of the virus, the passenger numbers fell sharply by 59.3% in March and have reduced by 95.9% in April.
With the pandemic it is not surprising to see the 95.9% decrease of passengers in April, compared to April 2019.
The number of cargo units decreased only by 14.3%. The core route Helsinki – Tallinn only had a decrease of 5.9%.
Minister of Finance Martin Helme (EKRE) said the state plans to offer Tallink a liquidity loan of EUR 150 million, which could later be formalized as the state owning a stake in the company. However, Helme said it may be necessary to amend the law to carry this out.
Finance minister Martin Helme (EKRE) says the state may purchase a EUR 150-million stake in Estonian shipping line Tallink, following the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The company’s CEO, Paavo Nõgene, said that this was perfectly conceivable.
Tallink (1)
Tallink Grupp has been commissioned by the Estonian Ministry of Economics and Communication to operate the group’s vessel STAR on the Paldiski-Sassnitz route. The route has been commissioned to ensure continuing movement of goods between the Baltics and the Nordics and Western Europe during the coronavirus situation.
The new schedule is effective from 27 March until 18 April 2020.
The vessel’s cargo capacity is 100 lorries and 10 passenger vehicles. If there are less lorries, more passenger vehicles may be taken on board. Passengers without vehicles will not be allowed on board. Food and medical supplies transport will be prioritised during the booking process.
Accommodation for all passengers will be provided in cabins.
Tallink (2)
Tallink is rerouting its vessels BALTIC PRINCESS and GALAXY back to the Turku-Stockholm route, via Långnäs in Aland. The rerouting is vital to ensure maritime transport of supplies and goods between Finland and Sweden continues as normal during the current coronavirus situation.
Tallink (3)
Members of the Tallink Grupp Supervisory Board Enn Pant, Ain Hanschmidt, Kalev Järvelill, Toivo Ninnas, Eve Pant and Raino Paron have this week unanimously decided to waive their Supervisory Board remuneration. According to the initial decision, the remuneration has been waived by the Board members for the next three months.
Commenting on the decision, Mr Enn Pant, Chairman of the Supervisory Board said:
“In the current economic crisis resulting from the coronavirus outbreak, which the whole world is faced with and in which everyone is looking for solutions to ensure survival and sustainability of operations, waiving the remuneration is the least the Supervisory Board members can currently do and it is the most logical step.
Tallink will start transporting regular passengers with vehicles on the Muuga-Vuosaari cargo route from 12 June.
The ship operating on the route is Tallink’s veteran SEA WIND.
The price for a single ticket for all departures all year round will be the same: €20 for a car and €10 per passenger. The price for the van and long van is also fixed for all departures and is €30 for the van and €40 for the long van all year round for all departures.
The ferry operates on the Muuga-Vuosaari route all year round every day of the week, except Saturday and the trip from Muuga to Vuosaari takes 3.5 hours and the return trip from Vuosaari to Muuga takes 4 hours. For an additional cost passengers can book a cabin, buy breakfast, lunch and dinner, and there is also a shop onboard. The ship is not suitable for travelling for people with disabilities or for passengers with pets.
Eckerö’s recently acquired FINBO CARGO will also go to Muuga harbour, instead of the Tallinn harbour.
