Shipping lines expect recession to boost maritime travel
Ships to Sweden increased in popularity during 1990s recession
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Shipping lines expect that during the present time of economic uncertainty, increasing numbers of Finns will opt for travel by ship.
This is what happened in the recession of the 1990s, and there are some signs of a possible repeat: the months before and after the new year have been almost without exception better for passenger shipping lines than they were a year earlier.
Discounts alone cannot explain the phenomenon, as the special January discounts were at about the same level as they were in previous years.
The whole year showed an increase in maritime passenger travel of 4.4 per cent over the previous year. According to unofficial figures by shipping lines, nearly 17.3 million sea trips were made last year.
The decline in the world economy was not reflected at sea until October, and even then, the main impact was on freight carried by car ferries, where income declined by the millions of euros.
At least three factors affected developments last year. One of them was the enlargement of the Schengen zone into the Baltic States. The economies of the countries involved remained in reasonably good shape through the end of the year, and the shipping lines took delivery of new vessels, which usually has a positive effect on the number of passengers.
Tallink put two new fast ferries on the route between Helsinki and Tallinn and Viking Line got one. On the Tallink-Silja route between Turku and Stockholm, the Silja Festival was replaced by the larger Galaxy.
The decline of Silja Line, which is owned by Tallink, continued, but it was not as steep as before.
Whereas Silja carried about 290,000 fewer passengers in 2007 than in the previous year, the equivalent decline this time was just a third of that.
Silja Line managing director Keijo Mehtonen says that the company got new impetus in the autumn, which can be seen especially on the Turku-Stockholm route. The months before the end of the year were on the plus side, even though the whole of 2008 remained in the red.
Combined passenger numbers of Silja Line and Viking Line on the route from Turku remained unchanged last year, while there was a decline in passenger numbers on the longer Helsinki-Stockholm route.
Passenger traffic between Finland and Estonia hit a new record. The situation has been described as Biblical: those who have are given more. The big shipping companies, Viking Line and Tallink, have grown stronger, and the trend is expected to continue.
In the summer the growth of Viking Line was in the range of 60 per cent. At the end of the year, growth slowed down. December was still profitable, but the margin was only seven per cent.
Tallink did better at the end of the year, with nearly 20 per cent more passengers than a year earlier.
The undisputed leader on the route is Tallink, whose market share grew to 50 per cent.
Nordic Jet Line and Super SeaCat, which both used smaller high-speed vessels, shut down their service, and Eckerö Line, which continues to concentrate on smaller car ferries, saw a continued drop in passenger numbers.
December was a rough time for the company, with passenger numbers declining by 20 per cent.
Viking Line is the leader in services to Åland, with more than a 50 per cent share of the 4.3 million passengers travelling between mainland Finland and the semi-autonomous island province.
Eckerö Line and its subsidiary Birka Line lost market share.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 16.2.2009 - TODAY |
 Shipping lines expect recession to boost maritime travel |
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