Ferry firms are competing for tourist travellers as well as freight, with Finnlines opening a new route between Naantali and Kapellskär.

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Ferry traffic between Finland and Sweden is booming, with new ships due to offer much more capacity for passengers wanting to travel between the two countries.

The Finnsirius ship is due to start running Finnlines’ Naantali-Kapellskär route from 15 September, with its sister vessel Finncanopus due to arrive a little later.

The company already has a strong position among freight drivers heading west, but the new vessels will allow it to attract more tourists.

“Finnlines is responsible for shipping more than a million lorries that use the three most important sea bridges from Finland to Sweden, Germany and Estonia,” said Finnlines CEO Tom Pippingsköjld.

When cargo traffic quietens down a little in the summer, there is more tourist demand — and vice versa. That evens out the business cycles for the company, according to the CEO.

Finnlines passenger numbers between Finland and Sweden increased during the summer by as much as 50 percent.

Harbour locations attract different customers

Viking Line head of communications, Johanna Boijer-Svahnström, says the firm closely follows competition between the harbours in Turku/Naantali and Stockholm/Kapellskär.

“From our perspective the competitive situation is good, because our ships are new and our market share is over 70 percent,” said Boijer-Svahnström. “The connection between Turku and Stockholm is very important for us. Our vessels ply that route 24 hours a day.”

Viking Line believes its competitive edge is the link between the city centres of Turku and Stockholm, because it’s easy for passengers to get into the downtowns of each city. This is also important on the firm’s routes between Helsinki and Stockholm.

“On the cruise front we have faith in the quality of our services — like restaurants, entertainment, shops and spas.”

Motorists, however, often prefer the Naantali-Kapellskär link as it allows quicker access to Sweden’s motorway network.

Freight contracts are long-term, however, and there are unlikely to be quick changes on the way. Viking Line had some 800,000 passengers in summer 2023, which is an eight percent increase on 2022.

“The cruise passenger market looks positive at this point,” said Boijer-Svahnström. “There are reservations in the autumn and for the Christmas party season. Regional tourism is here to stay. This is of course influenced by the security situation in the world and people’s need for short holidays after the pandemic.”

Tallink, meanwhile, said that they have invested in boats carrying passengers between Helsinki and Stockholm.

“Silja Serenade and Silja Symphony were renovated in the last few years at a cost of tens of millions of euros,” said Nina Honkaranta, the company’s head of operations in Turku. “We have just started two new ships on the Helsinki-Tallinn route, in the Megastar from 2017 and the MyStar which we launched in 2022. The average age of our fleet is still young. At this moment we have no announcements to make about new ship orders.”

Viking Line, meanwhile, launched the Viking Glory on the route between Turku and Stockholm in 2022. That and the two new Finnlines ships were all made in China. Tallink’s MyStar vessel was built in Rauma, on Finland’s west coast.

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